Insomnia
by Tiana-P
Summary: A blast from the past isn't always a good thing, as the team are about to find out. Nor is a sleep deprived Agent. TATE all the way with hints of McGabby and Jibbs. Sequel to ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.
1. Chapter 1

**Heya guys!**

**So this is my new story! Yay me!**

**I hope you all enjoy it! I really loved writing this chapter… lol… you'll see why…**

**Please R&R!**

**Btw – I'm not a Christian – so please forgive me if I've gotten anything wrong here!**

**Tiana xXx**

The black Lexus was not a common car. Nor was it very cheap. As it sat, parked in the church parking lot, the man who sat inside it peered out of the driver's window at the church's door.

He didn't want to go into the church. No, he hadn't been to church for years. His first wife would have killed him for that, but she was no longer around.

Taking another puff from the cigarette in his well manicured fingers, the groomed man flicked the end of it out of the window and into the rain as he saw someone approach the building.

He couldn't be sure as to whom it was, but it didn't matter to him. As soon as the guy entered the arched church doors, he started up the car and drove off, but not before taking down the guy's vehicle's licence number for later.

--

Inside, the church was marvellous. No matter how many times he had been there before, he was always struck with awe. Now, he was also struck with guilt.

He sat in the pews with some other people, who were scattered around the church. Looking up at the Holy Cross, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, someone exit the confession box. Almost immediately, someone else entered.

10 minutes later, he was the last one in the church as the lady came out of the box. Standing up, he nervously made his way to the confession's side of the box and waited for the Father to come into the other side.

When he heard the door lock, and the mesh net between then open, he took in a deep breath. He didn't wait for the Father to say anything. He didn't know if he _had_ said anything and he hadn't realised it.

'Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.' He began. But before he could get another word out, there was a gunshot and a bullet went through his left temple.

He was dead immediately.

--

Kate stood out on the balcony as it rained. The fresh smell of the end of summer was brought to life by it. Fortunately, she was sheltered from the cold drops by the covering above her.

Leaning against the railing, she could see a lot of the traffic passing by under her. So she gazed upwards at the setting sun instead.

She had been sent home an hour and a half ago now, and she found that she had nothing to do. As she was _still_ on desk duty until the next case, as Gibbs kept on saying, she had finished all of her paper work and left early. Tony had been out on the case with McGee, though she guessed that it would be solved pretty soon.

The coldness that had been set upon them that evening made Kate's shoulder ache. It had been 4 months since the cast had came off, and after a lot of rehabilitation, she was able to use it like normal. Kate had passed her shooting and gun handling test a few weeks back, but Gibbs was still reluctant to let her on a scene, claiming that she wasn't needed and that it was for her own good.

A set of very familiar arms snaked around her waist, breaking all of Kate's trail of thoughts.

'Hey.' She murmured, leaning back into the embrace.

'Hey. I thought you were going back to your place?' Tony replied, gently resting his chin on her shoulder.

'I did. Spent about 45 minutes there getting changed and all that. But then I had nothing to do.'

'So you thought you'd come and raid my place?' Tony asked jokingly, gently swaying her.

'Yeah, got a problem with that?' Kate defended her self, letting her hands glide up his arms.

'Well… no. But the other girls I invited around might.' Tony sighed dramatically.

'Then I guess you'll have to tell them to leave. Cos I'm not going anywhere!' Kate played along, laughing.

'Dammit! I knew it that I couldn't get rid of you that easily!' he shook his head as Kate pushed him away.

'Jerk!' she retorted.

'But you love me.' Tony pointed out, wrapping his arms around her once again.

'God help me.' Kate teased, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. Tony tightened his grip on her with one arm, but started to tickle her with the other, causing her to squirm in his arms. 'Tony!' she squealed.

'Yes?' he asked innocently, slowly stopping his torment. Kate was still breathing hard, mainly due to the fact the she had been laughing so hard.

'That hurt.' She frowned once she had gotten a hold of her breathing.

'I was _tickling_ you. I never knew that _tickling _could hurt!' Tony said obviously.

'Well, it does! Especially when someone has their hold on you and you can't get away!'

'Ah! So you're saying that I'm stronger than you!' Tony winked.

'No… I'm just saying that it's dangerous.' Kate said sincerely.

'You'd say anything to prove you're not weak.' He laughed, bringing her back into his arms.

'I'm not weak.' Kate defended herself.

'No. You're _definitely_ not.' Tony smirked before leaning in to kiss her. Kate didn't respond for a minute, but then gave in and started to enjoy her guilty pleasure. 'Definitely not weak.' Tony whispered as he broke away. Kate laughed as she turned back to the setting sun and her boyfriend wrapped his arms around her once more, chin resting on her shoulder.

'It's beautiful.' Kate broke the silence with.

'Hmm… What's that?' Tony replied, causing Kate to laugh. The sound of it made Tony smile. It was one of the things that he lived and longed to hear everyday. And the fact that it was because of him that he could here made it all that much special. He started to kiss down her neck, knowing each and every place that made her weak. Tony felt her swallow when he kissed her just below the ear and then bit her ear lobe.

'The… um…' Kate had to get her bearings straight as the man she loved did marvellous things with his mouth on her skin. 'The sunset. And the rainbow.'

Tony stopped his trail to look at what she was talking about. The sun was setting almost opposite to them, so when he looked over his shoulder, he wasn't surprised to see a rainbow, though a lot of it was obscured by the buildings.

'That it is.' He replied.

'Hmm…' Kate hummed back. The sighed contently, still swaying gently. 'Too bad summer's ending now.'

'I kinda like winter. And fall ain't half bad.' Tony told her.

'Yeah, I guess. But it's still nothing compared to summer. The late sunsets, the colours, the temperature. It's all perfect at the end of summer.' Kate sighed once again, and Tony thought about her word. They were enveloped in silence for a while as the sun sunk even lower before them.

'Kate?' he whispered gently, as if talking louder would break the atmosphere they were in.

'Yeah?' she answered back in the same tone as him.

'Marry me.'

**Ohhh! What will she say?**

**Lol – soz for the short chapter – but that seemed like the IDEAL place to end.**

**I hope that you will read on… and PLEASE R&R! Tell me how it's going so far…**

**Tiana xXx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heya!**

**Whoa! Thanks for the reviews for the first chapter! They meant A LOT! And because of them – I typed this up as soon as I could!**

**Hope you enjoy it!**

**Tiana xXx**

'What?' Kate asked in disbelief a moment later. Tony had felt her stiffen in his arms when the words had sunk in.

'Marry me, Katie.' Tony repeated, but this time she could hear the smile in them

'Are you… are you _serious?_' Kate questioned him.

'Of course I am.' The smile was still in his voice. Kate turned in his arms and got a bit of distance from him so that she could look into his eyes, but not be excluded from his embrace.

'You didn't plan this.' She stated rather than asking, the profiler in her reading and picking up things that no-one else could.

'No.'

'Then why did you just propose to me?' Kate demanded. She didn't know why she had to know, but something in her told her that it was a must.

'Because…' Tony trailed off. He didn't really know _why_ he had proposed to her. It just seemed like the right moment.

'"Because?" Tony! This is _serious_!' although her voice might have portrayed the tone of anger, it was soft, and she still hadn't left Tony's arms.

'I know that, Kate. I do. But you wouldn't understand my thoughts and deductions to how I got to this.' Tony smirked as Kate shook her head, laughing.

'C'mon, DiNozzo. After working with you for years now, I think that I can interpret your thoughts.' She joked as Tony leaned in to kiss her. She didn't object, but kept it short.

'It's just that…' Tony began when they broke apart. He laced a hand through her hair, letting it gracefully fall from between his fingers before turning back to look into her eyes. 'Before, you were describing the summer and how beautiful it is. And it was true. The colours, temperature, the sunsets – they're all perfect. And summer _will_ end, but they'll still be there. Maybe not the exact same as right now, but every day, it'll all still be there. And next year, it'll be almost like now. But one thing that might not be there is you. And that is the one thing that I want. So without you… it wouldn't all be perfect.' Tony's voice dropped at the end as he waited for her reaction of his explanation.

'Tony… asking me to marry you can't change that.' Kate finally said, propelling Tony into confusion. 'I mean, with the job we have, everyday is a risk. This can't change that.' She added in a rush.

'I know that, baby. Trust me I know. But it just feels right, you know? And maybe, you know… in some weird way… it _might_ just convince you to never kill me. Or leave me.' Tony smirked at the end. 'So, will you marry me?'

'Yes.' Kate smiled. 'You know I will.'

'Yeah?' Tony asked, uncertain. Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, her mouth right by his ear.

'Yeah.' She whispered before moving down to his lips to accept his waiting kiss.

'Why did it take you so long to say yes if you knew you would all along?' Tony speculated, eyeing her carefully after they broke apart.

'I wanted to make sure that you meant it, Tony. I mean, marriage is serious, and I couldn't imagine a guy like you settling down.' Kate confessed. Tony's eyes grew wide, kind of hurt by her explanation.

'You don't _trust_ me?' Tony asked, the pain in his voice though he tried not to show it.

'Of course I do! I said that I couldn't imagine you settling down, not that you can't.' when Tony didn't look convinced, she carried on. 'I do trust you. Every day, with my life and my heart. I said yes, didn't I?'

'Yes, I know you did. But it's just that… in the past year, I've shown you I've changed, haven't I? I mean, we've lasted this long, and that's a miracle in itself.' Tony smirked at the end of the sentence to lighten the mood.

'Yeah, I guess it is.' Kate agreed. 'And, Tony, I know that you've changed your ways. This just goes to prove it. I love you, you know that, right?'

'I love you too.' Tony replied, hugging her once again. 'Want me to show you how much I love you?' he murmured seductively in her ear. Before she could reply, Tony was dragging her through the balcony doors as he gave her his irresistible smile. And almost as soon as the doors were shut, Tony pulled Kate to the bed, losing garment as their lips met and climbed onto the bed to consummate their engagement.

--

Tony lay with Kate resting her head on his shoulder, both lost in their own thoughts. The last time that he was lost in thought, he had proposed to her. Silently smiling, he stroked her arm, still not believing that she had said yes.

Then another thought came to him. He looked down to where her left arm was resting on the sheet, just above his abdomen.

Slowly, he extracted himself from her, with reluctances and confusion on her part.

Kate saw him sit on the edge of the bed as he pulled on some pants and then got up when she asked him where he was going.

'One second, Katie.' H told her, dropping a short and sweet kiss on her lips as she propped herself up on one arm.

When Kate saw him going into his closet, she unconsciously fingered the cross that he had given her earlier that year. When it was clear that he was looking for something, Kate sighed, still smiling a bit due to the current events, and leaned over the bed to grab a shirt to pull over herself. One she had, she heard Tony coming over to her.

'Aw, you put clothes on.' He moaned in his way. Kate laughed as Tony pulled her into a kiss, pushing her back to lie on the bed. Breaking apart, he smiled down at her in a way that got her attention.

'What?' she asked, amused. He shook his head and sat up, pulling her up too so she could lean against the head board.

'I thought that we could make the engagement official.' Kate smiled and her heart leapt at the word "engagement". 'Well, semi-official' he smirked and showed her what he had gone to scrounge for in his closet.

It was a tiny box, but Kate couldn't mistake it for anything else but a ring box. She looked up at Tony, questioningly. If he hadn't planned it, then why did he have a ring?

Tony seemed to pick up on her assumptions, as he twisted the box around in his hand.

'I've had this for years. It was my mom's. She kinda gave it to me so that she wouldn't lose it. Told me that she'd take it from me when she got out. Of hospital, I mean.'

'Tony, you don't have to explain.' Kate interrupted, knowing that he didn't speak of the past often nor easily. But Tony shook his head, and carried on, speaking as if it was jut another story, someone else's past.

'When she knew that she wouldn't, she told me to keep it, and that one day, I'd find a girl who meant to me as much as she did. And that I would give it to her.' Tony opened the box to show her the ring. 'And now I'm giving it to her.'

Kate looked down from his eyes to his hands to see the piece of jewellery. She had to admit, it was beautiful. The ring was set in white gold, she assumed, and was in a twisted design. There were three diamonds where the two twists met, the larger on in the middle blue while the other two smaller ones on either side of it white.

'Tony… it's beautiful. Are you sure you wanna give it to me?' Kate finally spoke, looking up at him.

'There's no-one else who I'd want to give it to.' he smiled, picking the ring up from the box. 'I'll buy you another one later. A proper one.'

'No, Tony. This one is perfect.' she whispered as he slipped it onto her finger. Somehow, it really was perfect. It fit on her ring finger like it had been made for her.

Kate couldn't help but smile when she looked at the ring on her finger. She lifted it up a bit, the stones glittering in the minimum amount of light that was shining into the room. Placing her hand on Tony's cheek, she pulled him closer to kiss him. Not one to back down or to ignore her wishes, Tony gave in to her for the second time that night.

--

The vibrations of a ringing cell phone woke Kate up at almost 4 in the morning. She wasn't sure at first what it was, but when she opened her eyes, the light that glared from it made it obvious.

'Kate?' the voice greeted her as she flipped the cell phone open.

'Abby?' she groaned, not being able to wake up that early. Her and Tony had gone to bed late that night, having dinner at almost midnight.

'Kate. I know it's late or early, but I _really_ need you. And I know that you're probably really tired and all, but trust me when I say that I wouldn't be calling you now if I didn't have to. I just _really_ need my best friend right now.' Abby spilled out, babbling like she always did when she was excited, or nervous.

'What's going on?' Kate asked her, propping herself up on her elbow to wake herself up a bit. The stirring woke Tony up, who was also very reluctant to get up.

'I… I think…' Abby paused for a second as Tony looked up at Kate. 'Could you just come round, please?' her voice was so sincere that Kate knew that something had to be up.

'Of course, Abs. I'll be there in 30.' Kate informed her.

'Thanks, Kate. And I'm sorry for waking you up.' She apologised. Kate sighed, smiling slightly.

'Don't worry about it.' With that, they both hung up.

'What's going on?' Tony asked, or more liked yawned. Shaking her head, she leant down to give him a kiss, the smile never leaving her face.

'I've got to go see Abby.' Kate whispered to him when she broke away.

'What? Why?' he immediately responded.

'Relax.' She laughed, knowing how protective he was of Abby. 'I dunno right now, but she seemed alright.'

'I'll come with you.' He told her, pushing himself up too.

'I don't think that's a good idea.' When Tony shot her a "why not?" look, she carried on. 'She said she wanted her best friend there, and you don't really qualify for that.'

'Katie…' he moaned, knowing that there was no fighting with her when she got smart like that, especially that early in the morning.

'We'll see you at work, Tony.' She gave him another lingering kiss. 'Grab another couple of hours.'

'I'd rather you were here with me.' Tony sighed, throwing himself back onto the bed.

'You'll have me tonight.' Once again, Kate gave him a sweet short kiss. 'I promise.'

'Fine. Go. But tell Abby that this better have been good.' Kate laughed at his words, knowing that he wasn't as angry as he pretended to be.

'I will.' She got up and went into the bathroom to shower and wake herself up properly. Once she had, Kate re-entered the bedroom to get dressed. As she was doing her hair, the reflection of her ring caught her eye, a smirk coming onto her face.

Turning around, she saw that Tony had fallen back asleep. Walking over to his side of the bed, she placed a kiss on his forehead before exiting his room and then his apartment.

--

'Hey.' Kate greeted her when Abby opened the door to her place.

'Hey, Kate. Thanks for coming.' Abby stood aside to let her in. The sun was just rising and the golden light from it lit up her front room.

'No problem. So… what's up?' Kate cut to the chase straight away as she sat on the Goth's couch. Abby came to sit next to her, wringing her hands. 'Abby?'

'I think I'm pregnant.' She blurted out suddenly.

**Sorry for the long wait!**

**Had work to take care of. **

**But I got this up as soon as I could! I'll do the next chappie even quicker (I hope!)**

**Please R&R!**

**Tiana xXx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey!**

**So here's the next chappie! I'm SO glad that you guys are enjoying this! Lol! I'm a freak when it comes to making people happy!**

**Thanks to ****mandy9578**** who told me what the sides of the confessional box were called!**

**Anyhoos – please R&R!!**

**Tiana xXx**

'You _what_?' Kate asked, shocked for the second time that night.

'I know, I know. It's totally out of the blue. But I've got all the symptoms, and I've tried to convince myself that it wasn't true…' Abby gave up on her explanation as she stared at Kate, silently asking her to take charge.

'Ok, ok.' She placed a hand on her best friend's leg, giving it a gentle rub. 'How long have you thought that… you know?' Kate couldn't bring herself to say the word.

'About a week.' Abby admitted shyly.

'Oh.' Kate replied. When Abby shook her head, laughing, Kate looked up at her in confusion.

'I just thought that you would be better at handling this than me.' She admitted.

'Yeah, well, gimme more than a minute to get my head around this.' Kate quipped back, both of them smiling. 'Do you have a pregnancy test?'

'I have four.' Abby told her slyly. When Kate raised her eyebrows in surprise, Abby chose to explain, shrugging her shoulders. 'I didn't know which one to get, so I thought I'd get all of them to save time. And then I didn't know whether I should trust just one of them, or if I need to do more than one, like at different times of the day or-'

'Ok, I get the message.' Kate cut her off, knowing her babbling would never end if she didn't. 'So… um… does McGee know?' she asked tactfully.

'McGee?' Abby responded with a tone as if she had never heard that name before.

'Yeah, I mean I assume he is the father, right?' Kate asked, precautious if she got it wrong.

'Yeah, he is. I mean, he _would_ be. And no, I haven't told him. Only you know, so could you not tell anyone? Including Tony?' Abby confessed.

'Of course, Abs.' Kate reassured her, pulling her best mate into a hug to comfort her. 'So how about we do what you called me here to do?' Kate said in a jokey tone to lighten the mood.

'Yeah, I really should, seeing as I got you out of bed so early.' Abby laughed, getting up and pulling Kate with her. 'Unless you were up already and pretended to be sleeping?' she said suggestively as she wriggled her eyebrows.

'Well… that's for me to know and for you to _never_ find out.' Kate replied as Abby laughed, walking to her bathroom.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that bright enough to see inside clearly, so Abby had to switch the light on, allowing Kate to remember that it was still just past 4.30 in the morning. The morning _after_ she got engaged.

_So not how I expected to spend it_ she thought dryly.

5 minutes later, Abby opened the door to the bathroom to let her back in. She sat on the bathtub's edge as the Goth paced the length of the reasonably sized bathroom.

'Calm down, Abby.' Kate told her, tired of watching her going backwards and forwards.

'I can't calm down. This is _major_, Kate.' She snapped back, chewing on her thumb nail.

'How long left?' Kate sighed in response. The box had said to give the test 4 minutes.

'A minute and a half.' Abby stopped for a moment and seemed to be contemplating something. 'I can't do this, Kate!' she announced, facing her.

'Hey, it's ok. Just do it one step at a time, yeah?' she reassured her, pulling her into a hug. Abby had to stand still then, hugging Kate back.

'Yeah… one step at a time.' She breathed out when they pulled apart. 'How long now?'

'A minute since I last asked. So 30 seconds.' Kate told her. Somehow, she felt nervous too. Inside, she couldn't help but to think about if she was in Abby's position. A sudden jolt of nerves came upon her.

_Oh God! If this was me… what would I do? I just got engaged…_ thoughts were rushing around her head so fast that she almost didn't hear Abby speak.

'I can't do this!' she exclaimed once more.

'Abby, you can. If there's anyone who could, then it would be you. And it's not like you're alone. McGee wouldn't exactly leave you like that.' Kate countered, trying to calm her best mate down. Suddenly a realisation came to her.

_If this was me, I'd have Tony_ the thought made Kate smile, but she hid it quickly when Abby turned to go to the counter where the stick laid.

Abby was a step away from knowing. If she just shuffled a bit ahead, she _should_ be able to see what it said in the clear panel on the top of it. Taking a deep breath, she reached out, closing her eyes in doing so.

'I can't do it!' she almost screamed, causing Kate to come over to where Abby had her eyes shut still and had turned the pregnancy test over.

'Do you want me to look?' she asked gently. A second pause seemed to stretch for age for the two of them

'Ok.' Abby said, finally opening her eyes. Kate nodded and went to turn over the test, but a hand on her wrist stopped her. 'Don't! I don't wanna know. Not now.'

'Ok. That's ok.' Kate turned around to Abby. 'We'll do it your way. Whatever you want, Abs.' she smiled sweetly as Abby pushed the upside down pregnancy test back into the box and stuffed that into the wall cabinet, making sure to lock it afterwards.

'Yeah.' Abby sighed, leaning against her counter. 'I just need to think about this first.'

'You don't have to explain Abby.' Kate had to admit that she had never seen Abby so anxious before. 'It's a big thing.'

'Yeah.' Abby repeated. 'Can we get out of here? It's kinda claustrophobic.'

'You find _that_ claustrophobic? You sleep in a coffin, and you find _that _claustrophobic?' Kate asked, amused.

'What? A coffin is much more comfortable than that. Not to mention darker.' Abby quipped back, leading the two of them into the kitchen so she could get some water.' You want some coffee?'

'I'll make it. You can sit and… think.' Kate waved her away, pointing to the chair by the dining table.

'I guess I should. But I don't know what to do. I thought that it would be best knowing, but I don't even know if I _wanna_ be pregnant or not. I mean, I just need to know when I'd be disappointed and when I-' Abby's prolonged explanation was cut short by a glittering jewel. 'What's that?'

'What's what?' Kate asked, not taking her eyes off of the coffee machine.

'That shiny thing on your finger!' Abby gasped as a realisation hit her. 'Oh my God! Is that a -? Please tell me that's a -? Kate!' she couldn't form a complete sentence, making Kate laugh in the process.

'Yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you, seeing as you had some more pressing matters.' Kate lied, not wanting Abby to feel bad.

'Oh, wow! Kate! Why didn't you tell me?' Abby's mood had change at the end to an angry stance, and a quick memo in her head reminded her of how pregnant woman had mood swings.

'It only happened last night. I was going to tell you, when we got to work, but then you called and I got caught up in all of this.' Kate explained.

'Am I the first person to know?' Abby squealed.

'Yeah, I guess you are.' Abby came up to her and gave her a hug.

'Then let me be the first one to say congrats! Now lemme see that ring.' She grabbed Kate's left hand and peered at the ring as Kate smiled shyly. She wasn't used to the attention. 'It's nice. Not what _I'd _want, but it fits you perfectly.'

'Thanks Abby.'

'So… how did Tony propose? And more importantly, why did he keep it from me?!' Abby demanded to know as Kate poured her coffee.

'Well, there's one answer to both of those questions. He hadn't planned it.'

'Aw, that's so sweet.' Abby sighed as Kate joined her at the table. 'See? If you were in my predicament…' she left the rest of her sentence unsaid, pouting as she slammed back into her seat.

'Careful, Abs. Even if you're not pregnant…' Kate chastised. 'And if I were if your dilemma, you'd be in mine.' She pointed out.

'You don't _have_ a dilemma.' Abby narrowed her eyes at the Special Agent.

'Oh trust me, I will. I'm getting married to DiNozzo after all.' She joked. Abby laughed along and the two of them passed time discussing random things about weddings, and then how she was going to tell Gibbs.

'I think he'll figure it out as soon as he sees you.' Abby told her.

'Probably. Knowing Gibbs, he might already know.' Kate said solemnly.

--

'Drop it.' Kate warned as she and Tony made their way to their newest crime scene. He took his eyes off of the road for one second to look at her to see if she was as annoyed as she sounded.

'C'mon Kate! You can't keep secrets from me!' he teased her as Kate rolled her eyes.

The call for this new case had come in at 6am, when Kate was still over at Abby's. Deciding to drop the forensic scientist off at the NCIS headquarters, she met up with Tony there, and then headed off together. Gibbs was already there, apparently.

'Yes I can. Especially when it's not _my_ secret to tell!' Kate countered Tony's argument. Sighing in defeat, Tony nodded tightly before pulling up to their new scene. Both of them stared at the place for a while.

'Well, this is new.' Tony broke the silence with a low whistle.

'Tell me about it.' Kate murmured back as the two of them exited the car and grabbed their gear. 'Murder in a church. Could you get anymore sinful?' Tony chuckled as they passed the crime scene tape.

'Well, not everyone's as religious as you, Katie-pie.' He joked, not wiping the smirk off of his face even after she glared at him.

'Nice to see you two could make it.' The gruff voice of their boss greeted them as they entered the eerily filled church.

They all walked over to where Ducky was studying the dead body by the confessional box. The man was slumped in the penitent's side of the box, head resting on the opposite side to where he had been shot.

'Now this is just wrong.' Kate murmured as she saw the body, getting ready to sketch the scene. Tony was standing behind her, while McGee was bagging and tagging any evidence.

'On the bright side though,' Tony began, 'at least he's going to heaven.' The sentence made Kate pause in middle of her sketch and look at Tony sceptically. 'What?' he demanded when he saw her look.

'I-' Kate shook her head, not even wanting to bother to explain everything that she had learnt at the Catholic school she had been to for 12 years. 'Never mind.' She went back to her sketching as Gibbs yelled at Tony to get on with his photos.

Almost 3 hours later, at 10am, all four of the Special Agents had done all that they could think of doing. They had gathered all hard evidence from the church, and all security cameras from around the area that could show who entered the church when the Petty Officer had died.

'So…' Tony said as he and Kate drove back together to headquarters.

'Leave it.' Kate once gain warned him before he could get another word out.

'What?' he asked innocently.

'I know what you were going to say, and I'm telling you right now to leave it.' Kate replied without missing a beat.

'Actually, _Kate_, I was gonna ask if Abby said anything about that ring on your finger.' He said smugly. Kate rolled her eyes, knowing that she had been caught out. 'Though I am quite intrigued now with this whole Abby thing.'

'Like I said, leave it. It's not my secret to tell, that is if there is a secret to tell in the first place. And yes, she did notice, and yes, I did tell her cause she is my best friend and no-one can hide anything from Abby.' Kate said all at once to get it all out. Tony smirked at the end of her rambling.

'Alrighty then. I was just curious to know what I should expect when I see her.' Kate sighed and laughed.

'Yeah. She's a bit angry that you didn't tell her that you were planning to propose to me.' She said, their conversation lightening in mood.

'Huh! It's not like I knew either. Anyway, it's not like she isn't keeping secrets from me.' Tony replied, his voice lowering at the end of his words. Kate glanced over to him where he had a faint ghost of a smile on his face.

'No, Tony.' She told him.

'No, what?' he asked, once again innocently.

'Don't even think about using this as blackmail against her.' Kate informed.

'Why not? She can't be mad at me if she's hiding something from me too.' Tony was full on smiling now as Kate groaned, knowing that this could not end well.

'What I meant by "don't" was "you're not going to", Tony. Just leave this alone.' She ordered him.

'Is it serious?'

'Tony…'

'So it _is_ serious. Is she dying?' his voice actually turned serious there and Kate could hear the concern.

'Of course not.'

'Good.' He nodded his head once before he though of something else. 'You're not dying are you?'

'Oh God…' Kate murmured, knowing full well what she had just started.

'I take that as a no?' he questioned her. When she glared at him, he smiled. 'That's a no.'

'Please leave it alone?' Kate had resulted to pleading now, knowing there was no other way to shut him up.

'You said you couldn't tell me. But if I guess it, then technically, you wouldn't be telling me!' Tony explained his logic

'DiNozzo!' she yelled, knowing that she was in for a long day.

**Hey guys.**

**I didn't want to end this here, but there's something of urgent matters that has came up, so I kinda had to, otherwise I didn't know when I would get it up.**

**Basically, I'm heading out of the country for a week, but HOPEFULLY, I can get my sister to update for me before then.**

**Please R&R though. I love reviews!**

**Tiana xXx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Heya!**

**Just thought that I'd get this up and running as soon as I can.**

**Big thanks to all of yas that reviewed… and my sis for posting this lol.**

**  
Tiana xXx**

The bullpen contained the four Agents at their desks. Even though Kate had come off of desk duty, Gibbs couldn't just get rid of Agent Lopez, like Jenny had put it, and had to keep her on the team. Gibbs, at that time though, was in MTAC with the director to try and change her mind.

'Right, so Petty Officer Lincoln McKenna, aged 35, just got home from his last deployment last night,' Tony stated as he gathered the dead man's profile on the plasma screen in between his and McGee's desk. 'Married, wife of 2 years. No kids.' Tony concluded.

'That's it?' Kate asked sceptically.

'So far.' Tony shrugged. 'There's nothing else on his profile. It's all classified. Gonna need Gibbs to get me into that.' He mumbled.

'Sure you haven't died again?' she teased. Tony shot her a glare while McGee and Maria sat confused.

'I'm pretty sure.' He replied dryly.

'Pretty sure about what?' Gibbs asked as he made his way over to his desk, appearing out of nowhere.

'Petty Officer McKenna has classified files, boss. Need you to get me in to it.' Gibbs nodded tightly while turning to the others.

'Is this all you've got?' he asked, waving a hand toward the screen.

'Uh… no.' Maria Lopez spoke up. She was acting quite coldly towards Kate, and the rest of the team compared to always, seeing as she had been left back that morning.

'Well then?' Gibbs asked impatiently.

'McKenna had a clean record. Not even a speeding ticket. However,' she got up and moved in front of the plasma, shooting Tony a look to make him move. 'his bank account was an interesting search.' Lopez pulled up a slide taking up half of the screen. It was the statement of the Petty Officer's bank account.

'Whoa.' Tony exclaimed as he saw the total amount that was in the account. 'I didn't know Petty Officer's get paid that much.'

'They don't.' Gibbs supplied roughly, prompting Lopez to go on.

'No, they don't. So I followed this account through, and found out that it was opened in 1990 with a deposit of $3 million. At the age of 18.' She explained.

'Inheritance?' Kate suggested.

'Well, if you get an inheritance of almost $3 million, why do you join the Navy?' Tony asked.

'Not everyone lives for money, Tony.' McGee told him, causing Tony to glare back at him.

'DiNozzo's right.' The other three Agents all turned to look at their boss in shock. 'It happens sometimes.' He shrugged.

'Hey!' Tony exclaimed, offended, but no-one pretended to take any notice, though they all wore smirks.

'And the weird thing is that the account doesn't seem to have been touched, nor has it been joined with the wife.' Agent Lopez carried on.

'Ok. I want you to find out where the money came from. If it's inheritance, who died for him to get it?' Gibbs ordered at the newest member of the team. 'McGee, I want you to go through the surveillance videos we got. DiNozzo, find out what you can about that church's parish and the priest.' They both nodded and got on with their jobs as Kate raised her eyebrows at Gibbs.

'You think the priest did it?' she asked in disbelief.

'He was shot in the confessional box, Kate. What do you think?' he asked as he walked past her desk. Kate stood up and followed him into the elevator. When she got in with him, he gave her a look that clearly asked where she was going.

'I'm gonna see if Abby has any info for us.' She stated. Gibbs nodded. They rose down in silence, but just before the doors opened for Kate to get out for the lab, Gibbs spoke.

'You gonna have a church wedding?' he asked nonchalantly and calmly. Kate froze as the doors opened.

'I don't know. I haven't really thought about it.' She replied slowly as she stood in the doorway to stop it from closing.

'Congratulations, Kate.' He added as she turned to leave.

'Thanks Gibbs.' She replied, still in shock, as the doors closed and took the ex-marine down to Ducky's morgue. Shaking her head and slightly smiling, she walked into Abby's lab.

'Hey, Kate!' the lab rat exclaimed, jumping up as Kate walked into her "office" area at the back.

'Hey. What you doing back here?' she asked suspiciously. Abby sighed and pulled out her bag from under the desk. It was unzipped and there was box in there that Kate remembered from that morning. 'I see.' Abby nodded guiltily. 'Have you looked at it yet?'

'No. I was going to, but I couldn't.' Abby admitted.

'Ok. Well, and I don't mean to rush you or anything, but you do know that the longer you leave it, the more chances there are that the test could produce false results right?' Kate informed her.

'No, I didn't know that.' Abby gasped.

'Oh. Ok, well. Um… yeah. The longer you leave the test after you take it, the more unreliable it is.' She explained.

'Well, I _do_ have another one… or three.' Abby murmured, stuffing her bag back under her desk.

'Wanna get back to the case?' Kate asked, not wanting to make her think about the pregnancy if she didn't have to.

'Yes please.' Abby nodded, walking into the main lab area. 'So Ducky sent me a piece of the PO's skin.' She tapped on the plastic box where the piece of flesh hung.

'Oh, eww! That's just gross.' Kate exclaimed when she saw it.

'What's gross?' Tony asked as he stepped into the lab. He approached Kate, poking her in the back to make her move. 'Oh' he grimaced. 'What _is_ that?'

'That's a piece of the Petty Officer.' Kate explained, smiling at him.

'Now that really is gross… if not a bit cool.' Tony replied, sounding a bit impressed. Kate gave him a confused look, not understanding how that could be cool, before shaking her head.

'Why did Ducky send you a piece of the PO, Abs?' she asked, moving away from the plastic box.

'So…' Abby started, putting on some gloves, 'I can do this.' She pushed Tony out of the way with her hip and opened the box up. Unclipping the piece of flesh, she took it to the table in the lab and placed it on a glass square.

'What you gonna do to it?' Tony asked, intrigued.

'Well, Ducky saw something hinky with this part of the skin, so he sent it to me find out what it was. I ran some tests on it, and found out what I suspected it was. The box kinda melted the skin, so that I could remove the top layer with more ease. Now,' she paused, picking up some tweezers and a needle. 'I get to see if I was right.'

Tony exchanged a glance with Kate, both of them having no clue to what Abby was looking for. Just as one of them was going to ask, the doors of the lab slid open once again to reveal another Agent.

'Hey, Abby. I need to use your-' McGee stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw what his girlfriend was doing and how Tony and Kate were standing, quite interested in whatever she was doing. 'What are you doing?'

'If you wait long enough, you'll find out.' Abby told him, never taking her eyes off of the flesh. The job that she was doing was also showing on the plasma in the front of her lab via the camera she had above it.

As Abby was leaning far down over the object of interest to her, McGee joined the other two as they watched what she did on the plasma.

'Is that… _skin_?' he asked, incredulously.

'What else would it be, Probie?' Tony asked coolly. 'This has gotta be the weirdest thing you've had in your lab, Abs.'

'I dunno. My list of weird things is pretty long.' She replied.

'Yeah? What's at the top at the moment?' Tony questioned.

'A pair of eyes. You remember? Those blue ones?' she told him, still not taking her eyes off of the job at hand. It was going slower than she would like.

'Oh yeah. They weren't that weird.' Tony shrugged, not understanding how she found those clear blue eyes weird.

'What blue eyes?' Kate asked, joining in their conversation.

'The ones that came in without the rest of the body.' Abby shivered involuntarily. 'I'm telling you, that was just freaky!'

'The ones that sent _us _to Paraguay.' Tony mentioned when Kate still had no idea after Abby's explanation.

'Oh! Right, I remember those. You had some weird fascination with them.' Kate retorted as Tony smirked at his memory of Paraguay.

'Hey! They were pretty.' He admitted.

'They were also pulled out of some girl's eye sockets.' Kate quipped back.

'Could we _not_ talk about that, please?' McGee piped up just as Tony was going to respond. The two other agents nodded and let the topic and the teasing go.

'How long is this going to take?' Tony asked impatiently after they had all fallen into a silence.

'Almost there, Tony.' Abby murmured. 'There! Can you see it?' she asked Kate, who was standing the closest to the plasma.

'I think so. I can't make out what it is exactly. But is that a-?'

'Tattoo.' Tony said with her as he moved up behind her to see the picture on the plasma too. McGee decided to stay in the middle. This stuff stay fazed him a bit.

'I thought it might be. The tests showed positive for certain chemicals that are present in tattoo inks.' Abby explained.

'I can't see was it is exactly, Abby.' Kate informed.

'Yeah, I need to get rid of the rest of the skin too. This must have been done a long time ago.'

'Any idea how long?' Tony asked her.

'At least 3 months. But it can't be that long; the ink was still visual through the erasing. He might have not gone to get it done at the end.' When all three of them gave her a look, showing that they didn't follow her she sighed and continued. 'When you get a tattoo removed, you use a laser to do it. But it doesn't really remove it; just breaks down the ink. The ink is then absorbed by the body, but it takes a couple of time to get rid of it completely, and that's if you're lucky and it's small.'

'Small like Kate's?' Tony grinned as Kate glared him.

'Basically, yeah. But if it's on thin skin, then it would leave scarring too.' Abby replied, grinning at her best mate, who was shaking her head.

'Where was this tattoo from?' Kate asked to move the conversation on.

'His leg. Thigh to be exact.' Abby told her, still continuing on her quest to find out what the tattoo was of.

'Ouch. That must have hurt.' Tony commented, pulling a face.

'Yeah, not the place I'd get my first tattoo.' Abby informed him.

'Do you have a tattoo there?' he queried, suddenly intrigued. Tony saw McGee's eyebrows shoot up and he turned to Kate to see if she had noticed. The laugh she was trying to stifle proved that she had.

'Maybe.' Abby answered cryptically. 'A girl never tells.'

'Aw, c'mon Abby. It's not like I'll ever get to see it.' He pouted.

'You know, Tony, you're not exactly in the position to make demands about tattoos.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Tony's eyebrows drew together.

'All I'm saying is that you're the only one here who doesn't have a tattoo.' She said innocently, getting back to her quest, not seeing a faint smile coming upon Tony's face as he turned towards Kate, who had the same smile gracing her mouth too.

_:: Flashback ::_

He gently laid her onto his bed, their lips never parting as he joined her. They had just come home from their night out, celebrating their one year anniversary in a style that they both liked, and now were celebrating it in another way that they both liked.

As Tony undid the zip down Kate's back, the dress she had on slid off, joining whatever else there was on the floor. However, she was still dressed in a silky red slip that matched, colour for colour, to the dress that she had worn not 2 seconds ago.

Kate was able to slip off Tony's black shirt, undoing the buttons the first chance she had. Her hands were locked around his neck until she found herself lying on his bed. Somehow, everything seemed to be non-existent when she was with Tony.

Now, one of her hands was on his face, keeping him with her, while the other roamed around his body, first the front and then the back. She knew him better than he did. She knew every little scar from work or from childhood beatings, every little bump of the faded chicken pox spots, and every other thing that she could feel. So when her hand reached his left shoulder, the feeling of thin scabs here and there was a surprise.

'What is that?' she murmured as she managed to get her lips away from his for a moment. But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Tony recaptured them. 'Hmm… Tony.' She mumbled against his lips, and she could fell him smile as she broke away once more.

'What?' he whispered, eyes searching hers for a moment before targeting her exposed collar and neck, not liking the loss of contact. In the position that she was in, Kate could just see over Tony's shoulder as he carried on kissing her, making her sigh in more than one way, and causing her to close her eyes in pleasure. But when she did open her eyes, a faint nagging at the back of her head made her look down onto Tony's shoulder.

'Oh my God.' She spoke softly, and Tony wasn't sure if she had said anything at all until he felt one of he hands that was on his back travel up to his shoulder once again. That was when he decided to change tactics and drew her mouth to his. 'Oh, no you don't.' Kate said, moving her face away from his.

Tony sighed and tried to recapture her lips, but she was making it really hard for him.

'What is that?' Kate repeated, and this time Tony chose to reply in hope to get his way.

'It's a tattoo. I'd thought _you'd_ know that, Katie.' He said, slightly pinching her butt where hers lay. She giggled as he did so, allowing him to kiss her gently.

'Can I see it?' she asked him when they broke for air. Tony seemed to consider it before pulling her back into a kiss.

'How about later?' he tried to negotiate.

'How about no?' she retorted, smirking, before he wiped it off of her face with another kiss.

'Compromise?' she suggested, pulling away. When Tony sighed, she smiled. 'You show me now, and I'll make it worth your while.' Kate grinned slyly. Although they both knew that even without that deal, things would turn out the same way, Tony did actually want to show her his "gift" to her.

'Fine.' He groaned, pushing himself up into a sitting position as Kate sat up too. She crawled up behind him as he turned so she could see it.

'Is that-?' Kate's breath hitched in her throat as she saw what the tattoo was, finally. Her fingers skimmed the skin, the black medium sized piece of art standing out on his pale skin. But somehow, the tattoo looked like it had always been there. It suited him well. 'That's my name.' she whispered.

'I never knew you could read Chinese.' Tony joked, resulting in Kate giving him a punch on his back. 'Hey!'

'I know what my name looks like in Chinese, Tony. I have that painting, remember?' she told him. Tony remembered that painting. He woke up to the scroll with his love's name scripted on it many times when he stayed at her place. It was where he had gotten the idea from.

'Do you like it?' he asked her gently.

'I love it.' She told him honestly before pulling him backwards to seal their deal. 'And I love you.'

_: End flashback :_

'Wait! I think I can see something.' McGee shouted, causing Abby to freeze in her position, scared half to death.

'Not cool, McGee!' she snapped at him.

'Sorry.' He apologised. Both Kate and Tony were looking at the screen too, but they were closer than he was. Moving backwards slowly, they finally saw what he could see.

'Looks like a name.' Kate observed.

'Starts with "S".' Abby added from what she could see. Gently, she carried on scraping until she could see the rest of it. When she thought it was enough, she looked at the screen so that she could get a different view of it.

'"Sophie".' Kate read off of the screen, looking at Tony to make sure that it was what he saw too. He nodded, tilting his head to the side for a second.

'This just gave us our first real suspect.' He stated.

**There you go guys!**

**I included the flashback in this chapter… thought it went well, don't you? If only someone would do that for me!**

**Anyways – please R&R!**

**Tiana xXx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey **

**I just got back and I'd thought I'd update. **

**Please R&R! **

**Tiana xXx **

Maria Lopez entered the lab, only to see that the rest of her team-mates were already there. She had been sent by Gibbs to see what McGee had gotten from his search through the surveillance tapes they had gotten from the buildings around the church, and to see if she could find where Tony and Kate had got to.

'Hey. What's going on?' she asked in a friendly voice, although she wasn't feeling so friendly. All four of them turned to face her.

'Just looking at Abby's new discovery.' Tony smiled. When Agent Lopez just nodded dismissively, the rest of them all decided to break apart.

'I need to use your computer programme for the tapes, Abby.' McGee announced as Abby led him over to her computer without another word, but with a glance to Kate, knowing perfectly well that she couldn't keep her secret for much longer.

'Gibbs wants the two of you upstairs. He said that you had some results from your search, Tony.' Lopez instructed, flicking her hair over her shoulder to get a better look at them as they passed her by to get to the elevators.

--

'Where have the two of you been?' Gibbs snapped as they stepped into their bullpen.

'With Abby.' Tony replied. When the look on his face proved that Gibbs wasn't happy with that answer, Kate decided to carry on.

'She got us a lead.' Now Gibbs was interested, looking at her pointedly to carry on. 'There was a tattoo on the PO's leg that he had just gotten erased. Abby managed to make it visible once again.'

'And…?' Gibbs prompted.

'It had said "Sophie".'

'Who the hell's Sophie?' the ex-marine barked.

'His wife.' Tony told them. He had known since it was him that had been forced to do a background search on the PO. 'Although the interesting part is _why_ did he get the tattoo removed when they were still married?'

'Maybe they had some problems.' Kate replied, shooting him a glare for withholding the information about the name.

'Maybe…' Tony said.

'Ok, the two of you go and tell the wife.' Gibbs instructed.

'About the tattoo?' Kate asked, confused.

'About the fact that her husband's dead.' He corrected her. Both Tony and Kate shared a looked from where they stood.

'Uh, Boss, you haven't told her yet?' Tony asked, knowing that it wasn't usually left for so long to tell the families.

'I was waiting for the two of you to show up! Now go!' they both grabbed their guns and badges at his command. 'And don't forget that she's a _suspect_ too!'

'Got it, Boss.' Tony yelled back as they headed over to the elevators once again, but this time to leave the building.

'You got the address?' Kate asked as they stood in front of the metal doors, waiting for the elevator to arrive. Tony smiled sheepishly and turned on his heel to jog back to his desk causing Kate to roll her eyes.

'Here.' He said, presenting Kate with a piece of paper with the wife's details on as he approached her while she held the elevator. When she opened her mouth to say something, he added, 'I'm driving, by the way.'

--

'Wait. What's that?' Agent Lopez asked as she helped McGee with the tapes. Abby had long ago retired to her little office, getting on with her evidence work.

'I dunno…' McGee murmured. So far, they couldn't get a clear view of the cars that sat in the church parking lot. The cameras seemed to be fuzzy, as if they were old and the tapes had been used a million times over.

They were on the 7th out of 13 tapes and it had the best view yet. And for the past 30 minutes, all that they had seen was one single car sitting in the car park for about 25 minutes. Unfortunately, they couldn't see who was inside it, nor what the licence plate was.

Now, the victim was seen approaching the Church's doors and Lopez had noticed some movement by the car that seemed to be living there.

'What is that?' McGee asked as he rewound the tape to see the movement again.

'I think he's throwing out a cigarette end.' Lopez informed him.

'Did we find a cigarette end?' McGee wondered, knowing that it could hold vital DNA evidence.

'I don't know. I wasn't there.' Lopez replied in a cold tone. McGee noticed it, and decided to leave it alone.

'Lemme go ask Abby.' He excused himself from the new ice queen. As McGee stepped into Abby's new lair, he was surprised to see her staring off into space. 'Abby?' he tried to grab her attention. When she made no signs of hearing him, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

'Oh God!' she jumped. 'McGee!' swatting his arm repeatedly, she chastised him.

'Sorry! You ok?' concern laced his words as he looked at her in query.

'Yeah, I'm fine. What did you want?' she asked. McGee still looked at her in query, but decided to let it go for the time being, considering that she hadn't had her Caf-Pow! that morning.

'Um… the evidence. Did we have a cigarette end? From the parking lot?'

'Nope. Didn't find one cigarette end from anywhere.' Abby told him as his face fell. 'Why?'

'Cos Gibbs is gonna send me out there to find it.' He sighed as Abby shuffled forward and gave him a hug.

'Now go and do as the Boss-man says!' she commanded as she stepped away from the embrace, leaving McGee a bit confused.

--

Kate and Tony stepped out of the victim's, and the currently first suspect's, home with a breath of relief. Relief to get out of there. They walked professionally down to the car before stopping in front of it when they were sure that Sophie McKenna couldn't see or hear them.

'What did you think of that?' Tony asked his fiancé, inwardly smiling at the thought of the word.

'I dunno what to think. I mean… saying that she handled it well would be…' Kate trailed off, not knowing what to say.

'The understatement of the year?' Kate smiled at his words. 'Yeah, I thought so too.'

'I can't believe that I'm going to suggest this, but _maybe_ it was the wife this time?' she shook her head as Tony slipped on his sunglasses as he walked around to the driver's side of the car, smirking at her.

'I dunno. She seemed _too_ cool for that. Maybe she really was just a religious nut.' He said in a matter-of-fact tone as Kate glared at him over the vehicle. 'What?'

'"Religious nut"?' she quoted in disbelief.

'C'mon, Katie. She was glad he died in a church! I mean, it was like she was totally forgetting the fact that her husband shouldn't be _dead_ at all.'

'She was looking at the positive in it all! You know, I take back what I said. Maybe she was just in shock. I mean, she hadn't seen him in months, and then the day he came back she finds that he was-' Kate stopped abruptly, not believing that they had ignored the obvious.

'Kate? _Kaaaate_?' Tony called out to her when he saw her stand there, her bottom lip in between her teeth, as he had learnt that she did when she thought of something new. 'What is it?'

'Petty Officer McKenna arrived home yesterday, right?' she told him.

'Yeah, I think we've established that fact.' Tony said, weary of her glares.

'And if he was murdered last night, he didn't exactly go home, now did he?' Kate explained as Tony finally caught on.

'So why didn't she report him missing?' he sighed, banging his head against his arms that rested on the top of the car. 'Dammit. Do we have to go back in there?' he asked with a nod in the direction of the house.

'I think we should let Gibbs know first. It's a crucial piece of the investigation, Tony. I don't think that he would be happy if we went and interrogate her without his permission.' She reasoned with him. Personally, Kate didn't really want to go in there again either. There was something about the fact that the woman hadn't shown any emotion about her husband's death that unnerved her.

They climbed into the car and Tony started it as soon as he could. Lost in her own thoughts, an involuntary shiver ran down her spine when she thought about the wife once again, and her reactions, knowing that if someone had told her that _her_ husband had been murdered…

'You ok?' Tony asked as she shivered once again, this time a bit more visibly. He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.

'Yeah.' Kate replied, her voice betraying her words. She knew that Tony wasn't convinced either. 'I was just thinking about Sophie McKenna, and her reactions, and how if it were me…' she trailed off, knowing that he got the message.

'Yeah. But it isn't you, Kate.' Tony told her straight out.

'I know that, but-'

'No buts.' Tony cut her off. 'You know that in out line of work it's a possibility, as it is with everyone else.'

'I know, but-' Kate tried again, but was once again cut off by Tony.

'But, nothing. We've talked about this, Katie.' Reaching over, he took her left hand in his right, interlocking their fingers too. Raising it to his lips, he laid a gentle kiss on her back of her hand and then on where her ring lay.

'Hey, Tony?' Kate said softly as Tony glanced over at her. She had turned in her seat slightly so that she was facing him, her head resting against the seat.

'Yeah?' he replied in the same tone.

'I love you.'

'I love you too, baby.' He smiled at her, glad to see her mirror the gesture. As he was driving, Tony was unable to lean over and give her a kiss like he really wanted to. Instead he settled for stroking her hand with his thumb, making a silent vow to make up for it later.

'Gibbs knows we're engaged.' Kate informed him. The memory had just come to her about the little conversation in the elevator.

'Really?' this had caught his attention. 'What did he say?' he asked, slightly worried.

'If I wanted a church wedding or not.' She laughed. When Tony looked at her confused, she shook her head. 'I think it was his subtle way of telling me he knows, and that he was ok with it. He said congrats.' She pointed out to him.

'Well, that was nice of him. I wonder what came over him.' Tony chuckled as Kate punched his arm, trying to stifle her own laughter.

'That's mean.' She told him.

'So is you not telling me what's up with Abby.' Tony quipped back. Kate moaned; she had thought that they were over it. Obviously, she had been wrong.

--

Gibbs had now joined Abby in her lab, after sending McGee and Agent Lopez back to the scene to find the cigarette end, of course.

'There's not much more that I can do, Gibbs. If I enlarge the picture,' Abby showed him and example. 'then it all goes fuzzy.'

'So what can you get out of this then?' he asked, waving at the no so clear picture of the car that seemed to be in the middle of their investigation at that moment.

'That the car is black, and sporty.' Abby replied, without missing a beat.

'That narrows it down to about another 10,000 cars in the tri-state area.' Gibbs said gruffly.

It was just then that Tony and Kate entered through the doors. Gibbs could tell by the grin on Tony's face that they had been doing something not so professional on their way down, but he decided to let it go.

'How did it go?' he asked instead. The two of them exchanged glances and then told him the full, but summarised, version of what had happened. And then of Kate's realisation.

'So we thought that it might have something to do with the case.' Kate summed up.

'Ok, well, go see if her friend backs up her alibi.' Gibbs instructed to them, but only Kate was paying attention.

'Where's that picture from?' Tony asked Abby as he approached the plasma.

'One of the surveillance cameras that picked up the Church's parking lot. Why?'

'No reason.' He murmured, squinting and tilting his head a bit at to see if he could see the car clearer.

'DiNozzo!' Gibbs snapped suddenly, causing Tony to turn back to him. 'You know that car?'

'Uh…' Tony turned back to it. He was sure that he had seen it before. 'It's a Lexus. I dunno what model, but it's an expensive one.'

'You can tell from that fuzzy picture' Abby asked.

'It's… uh… a distinctive car.' Tony explained. Kate's eyebrow's furrowed as Tony's mood changed suddenly.

'Ok, well that should narrow down the search results, Gibbs.' Abby said.

'Good. Sometimes you do come in handy, DiNozzo.' Gibbs shook his head as Tony spun and smiled full on to him.

'Aw, thanks Boss!' Once again, Tony's mood had changed in an instant, but Kate knew that he was just covering up from before. There was something about that picture that had got to him.

'Ok, Kate, get a background on the friend of McKenna's wife. Tony, you _still _have some results from the church's parish. Abby, you have 30 minutes to narrow _that_ down' he said pointing at the plasma, 'before you give me something to put a BOLO out on!' Gibbs' voice was very commanding that they all went their own was to get their job done.

--

'What was up with that car?' Kate asked Tony when they got to their desks.

'What d'you mean?' he asked coolly, slumping down into his seat to look at what the search had came up with.

'I know you like your cars, Tony, but that picture was too distorted to see what it was.' Kate explained as subtly as she could.

'To the untrained eye, maybe.' Tony winked at her before turning back to his work. Unsure whether it meant that the subject was dropped or not, Kate turned to her own computer and started on her own research.

It was close to an hour later that both McGee and Lopez joined them in the bullpen.

'Found the cigarette end, Boss.' He told Gibbs. The other two looked on with interest, knowing where they had been to.

'And…?'

'It's with Abby as we speak.' Lopez finished off. Abby had sent out a BOLO for a black Lexus, not being able to narrow it down anymore. Fortunately, this might help. 'It was in good condition; I'm hoping that there would be enough DNA on there.'

Gibbs nodded tightly and the two new agents got back to their desks, carrying on with whatever there was left to do.

When Kate got off of the phone to the wife's friend, she was almost disappointed to hear that she had confirmed Mrs. McKenna's alibi. Letting Gibbs know that, he had still insisted that they would have to go to talk to her, but to leave it for now as there was some more pressing matters.

'The same priest that was there last night should be at the church now. I want the two of you to go and ask him a few questions.' He told Tony and Kate, before turning to look straight at her. 'You think you can do that?'

Kate didn't say anything, but kept her face neutral and picked up her gun and badge once again. Tony followed suit as Gibbs let them go.

--

'You ok to do this?' Tony asked her as they exited the car that was parked by the side once again that day, and headed towards the church doors.

'It's my job, Tony. I can handle it.' She retorted, her tone more official than before.

'Alright then.' he drawled out, opening the arched doors and entering the almost deserted pews.

'Hi, can I help you?' one of the Sisters that was part of the parish ask them. She had seen them earlier that day and knew they were with the Federal agency that was taking care of the murder.

'We're here to talk to Father Connelly.' Tony said politely. He may have been working, but he was still in a church, and he had been brought up to respect religious places of worship.

'If you follow me, I'll take you to him.' She instructed. They both nodded their thanks and followed the Sister to a little hall off the side in the church.

'How come the Church is still open?' Tony asked when they approached another turn.

'There may be an on-going investigation, but this is _still_ a place of worship, open 24 hours a day. If there was a murder on a highway, would you close the whole stretch, from start to end?' she replied.

'No, Sister.' He answered truthfully, although he registered Kate's shock as his formalness.

'Exactly. We have sealed off what part of the scene that wasn't cleaned up and the rest is open as always.' Gently, she knocked on the door they had approached. 'Father Connelly?'

'Yes, Sister?' he called out, giving permission for her to open the door. Father Connelly was in his mid-forties, both Tony and Kate guessed. From the first look, Kate knew that he couldn't have done it, but she didn't know if it was because of his title and the fact that there were also a hand full of other Sisters there too or just of her profiler training.

'There Agents are here to see you.' She gestured to them before leaving.

'Special Agent Todd and DiNozzo. We just want to ask you a couple of questions about last night, if that's ok?' Kate asked, speaking for the first time since they had gotten there.

'I don't see why not. Although, let's go somewhere more private, if that's ok with you.' He replied, exiting the small hall and leading them down another hallway.

'What ever is fine with you, Father.' She insisted as Tony looked around at the parish carefully, trying to put the backgrounds that he had pulled up to each individual that he could find.

'You carry a gun with you, Agent Todd.' The priest stated, not taking any obvious looks at her weapon. 'Even though you wear a cross.' Tony caught the end of his words, and raided an eyebrow in curiosity, although Kate didn't reply to him in any way.

'Yes, I do.'

'Yet you come into the house of God with it.' The priest asked, finally opening the door to a small office. Kate eyed him carefully, knowing that he was just testing her. Seeing that Tony was going to say something, she started to speak before him, shutting him up with a look.

'I'm here on my job. And if me carrying a gun in church to seek justice for a man who was wrongfully murdered, then I can accept that.' Kate told him truthfully. Father Connelly smiled at her.

'Then so am I.' he walked to his desk, or whet they assumed to be his desk, and sat in his seat. 'Sit down, and tell me how I can help you.'

--

'How's it going Abby?' Gibbs asked, placing her mid-afternoon Caf-Pow! on the desk next to her. It was almost an hour since Tony and Kate had left to go to the church and Abby was still working on getting a match for the DNA off of the cigarette end.

'Not good at all.' She shook her head, ignoring her drink. Kate had warned her that caffeine wasn't good for the baby. That is, if there was a baby n the first place.

_I really need to get that test done_ she chastised herself.

'You ok, Abs?' Gibbs asked her, concerned that she hadn't had one Caf-Pow! all day. It was like him going without ant coffee for a while day, it wasn't really possible.

'Yeah, course! Why wouldn't I be?' she asked, ignoring his eyes.

'You haven't drank one of these all day.' He asked in his interrogative tone.

'I… uh…' Abby was mentally yelling at her self for not preparing an excuse for why she hadn't been drinking it. 'Kate and I have a bet?' she said shakily 'Yeah. We have a bet to se how long I can go without it.'

'Ok.' Gibbs dismissed, noting to ask Kate about it. 'How long until we get a match, Abs?'

'Gibbs, I've ran it through all of the DNA programmes that we have. None of them have matched.' She said calmly

'Isn't there anything else you can do?' he asked exasperated.

'Well, there is this one thing…' Abby trailed off. When Gibbs looked at her expectantly, she carried on. 'I've been mucking around with this programme, and I dunno how good or efficient it is, or how accurate it would be-'

'Abs!' Gibbs said warningly.

'Sorry. Well, the basics are that the chances are that the DNA here is not in the system, so I've made a programme that could identify the similarities between this one and any that is in the system.' When Gibbs looked lost, she simplified it more. 'In other words, Gibbs, it might be able to find a member of the family that _is_ on the system, based on the same alleles and the-'

'Do it!' Gibbs commanded.

'It might not work though.'

'I'm taking the risk.' Gibbs gave her a kiss on the temple as he walked out. 'That's good work, Abs.'

'Thanks. I thought so too.' She said to herself, dumping her beloved Caf-Pow! in the garbage next to her.

--

Abby sat and pondered about her possible pregnancy when the computer showed a result. Sitting upright, she let her fingers fly across the keyboard to bring up their profile. When she did so, certain things fell into place, yet she still refused to believe it. Looking at the time, she saw that it had been 45 minutes since she had began the search. There was no way that she could restart it and not let Gibbs know.

'The programme must be mucked up…' Abby reassured herself, although she didn't believe it at all. Picking up her phone, she dialled the boss' number. 'I got a hit. And it's not good.' She told him, hanging up on him before he could.

--

As Father Connelly ushered them out of the church, Kate thanked him and lit a candle for the dead Petty Officer.

'If there is anything else that I could do to help, please just call.' He told them. Assuring him that they would, Kate and Tony walked down to their car.

'Gibbs'll be happy with that.' Tony said coolly.

'I hope so.' Kate sighed.

'What is it?' Tony asked, concerned. He knew that she took the fact that they had to interrogate a priest for a possible murder suspect was taking its toll on her.

'If it wasn't him, then who was in the confessional box?' Kate said.

'Well, it's out job to find out.' Tony grinned, making her lips twitch in a smile too, although what she had done didn't make her want to smile at all.

--

'What is it, Abs?' Gibbs barked as he stomped into the lab, upset that he was hung up upon.

'You might wanna see this.' She pulled up the hit that she had gotten from the programme. 'Gibbs, there's a chance that this is just totally wrong. I mean, _I _made this programme. It might not work.'

'Do you believe that?' he asked her. When Abby shook he head slowly, looking down, Gibbs pushed her chin up. 'Hey, it's not you're fault.'

'I know. But someone's gonna have to tell him.' Abby told him.

'He already knows. It explains how he could describe the car.' Gibbs explained.

'This isn't good.' Abby said sadly.

'Hey! It's not your job to worry about that. You worry about the fact that you actually made a programme that all the other agencies will want.' Abby smiled a bit. Gibbs smiled too and left her to go to see the director with his new piece of information.

--

Neither of them had notice the expensive black Lexus sitting around the corner. They were both laughing as Tony tried to relax Kate. And not to much surprise, it was working.

The man inside stepped out cautiously as the two special agents finally got to their car. Walking over, he slid his sunglasses off too. He saw as the woman walked over to the other side of the car, shooting a cheeky smile at the man, who pouted at her.

'Anthony.' He finally found his voice, and used it to the full extent that he could. He could see the man in question freeze suddenly, the playfulness on his face leaving as he turned to face him.

When Tony saw that the person actually _did_ call him name, he set his jaw, trying his best not to do the many things that he had planned on doing the next time he met him again.

'What do you want, Dad?' Tony spat, colder than Kate had ever heard him speak. There was a glint in his eyes, and Kate knew from that moment, that it wasn't going to be good.

**WHOA! **

**Man that's long… but I couldn't stop writing. **

**Just as a note – I'm sorry if I've got any of the religious stuff wrong – if I have and you want me to correct it,just lemme know! **

**PLEASE R&R! **

**Tiana xXx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey!**

**Sorry for the delay. Hope you all enjoyed the last chapter.**

**R&R!**

**Enjoy!**

**Tiana xXx**

'I just want to talk with you.' Tony's father said in the same tone as before. It was a voice that was use to being obeyed, Kate could tell, as it was still low and soft.

'I don't think so.' Tony replied, dismissing the man by turning back to the car. He avoided Kate's eyes, knowing that they would be questioning him. Instead, he opened the door for the driver's side as Kate got in at her side.

'Anthony, please. I just want to talk to you for a minute. I drove all the way from Philadelphia.' He told him to convince his son that it was important.

'Well, it was a waste of time then.' Tony retorted, standing in the open door. He was about to go when he stopped and turned back to face him. 'How did you know that I was here?'

'In Washington or at the church?' he asked.

'Both. Either.'

'I needed to see you so I got someone to find out where you are. As for the church, I saw the murder on the news. I figured you'd be here.' Tony knew that he was lying about the last bit. The death of the Petty Officer hadn't been revealed to be a murder yet. Shaking his head he got into the car finally, not bothering to listening to his father's protests and calling him back as he slammed the door and drove off in record time.

Kate sat quiet in her seat, her body turned to face the driver. He hasn't said one word since they had left the church, and that was almost 10 minutes ago. He had decided to take the long way back to HQ, and she knew that that wasn't a good thing.

'Tony…' she started gently, not wanting to force him.

'I'm fine.' Tony simply said, almost snapping. Kate was taken aback with the force behind his words. Even if they weren't so close, as his partner, she would've still been worried about him.

'Can you slow down a bit?' she asked him when she stared out of the windscreen to see that he was going to fast for the city roads. When Kate glanced at the speedometer, she noticed that he hadn't changed at all and was almost 25 over the limit. 'Tony! _Please?_'

Hearing the desperation in her voice, even his mood and anger couldn't deny her. He stepped of the accelerator of a second to let it drop about 15, still making sure that he was over the limit. Anything to let his anger out.

They still sat in silence for another 10 minutes or so before Tony turned onto the highway. He had calmed down a reasonable bit, but Kate couldn't tell; not with him wearing his glasses and all.

'I can't believe he got someone to find me!' he exclaimed finally. '_He's _the one that cut _me _off!'

'You parents live in Philadelphia?' Kate questioned, knowing that he had worked there a while back.

'My _father_ lives in Philly. And he's 3rd or 4th wife. My mom's dead.' He shook his head. 'It's why I left Philadelphia in the first place.' Tony sighed.

'Do you know what he wants?' Kate asked him, gently placing a hand on his leg to bring them some contact and to show him that she was there.

'No idea.' He murmured.

'We're gonna have to tell Gibbs.' She stated.

'I know.'

'Is that how you recognised that car on that tape?' she said, realising that the car she had seen via her side mirror was also a black sporty Lexus.

'I didn't know that it was _his_. I just knew that he owned one.' Tony shrugged, sighing once more. 'He's a suspect too.'

'He doesn't have to be. The car on the tape was gone before the time of death, remember? Anyways, do you really think that he is capable of such a thing?' Kate reasoned with him. She knew that the relationship between father and son was tense and that there _was_ a chance that he may have been behind it. After all, he was still a member of the public at the scene of a murder.

'I wouldn't put it past him.' Tony murmured as he gently manoeuvred the car into the parking lot.

'Tony…' Kate asked slowly, sitting up straighter in her seat. 'This… _thing_' she couldn't think of any other word to describe it at that time, 'Gibbs isn't going to like it if it interferes with your work.'

'It won't. It's not like I _care_ or anything.' Tony mentioned nonchalantly. Kate's eyebrows rose into her bangs.

'He's still your father, Tony.'

'No, he's not.' Tony said slowly, wanting to get her to drop it at once. Kate understood his tone, but she wasn't one to stop.

'Just cos you haven't talked in years doesn't change that fact, and it sure as hell won't if he turns out to be a suspect. Especially if people find out that yo-'­ Kate was cut off when Tony leaned over and planted his lips on hers. At first she was confused, but she let her eyes flutter shut when she was pulled into it more.

It took her a full 10 seconds to realise what he was doing. By that time, Kate was finding it hard to withdraw. Every time she tried, he would pull her back as he had his arms wrapped around her tight.

'Tony…' she had managed to get out as she pushed herself away from him. 'Don't do this.'

'Do what?' he asked her, capturing her lips once more before she could pull away. But this time Kate stopped the kiss a lot faster, but the anger was starting to push through her.

'Tell me to back off if you want, Tony. But _don't_ use me.' She warned in a low voice. Grabbing her coat from the behind her seat, she got out of the car before Tony could reply, leaving him to realise just how angry he had made her.

--

Gibbs had been waiting for Tony and Kate to get back from the church in the bullpen. Almost as soon as the elevator pinged, he shot a look towards the elevator, only to see Kate walking out by herself. Confused, he rose an eyebrow as she sat at her desk.

'We didn't find much. Father Connelly wasn't in the confessional box at the time of the murder. Several of the members of the parish can confirm his alibi.' She reported to him. Nodding slightly, he turned back to his own desk.

It was 5 minutes later when the elevator pinged once more and Tony walked towards his own desk. Almost as soon as he had placed his badge and gun down, Gibbs had came up to him and asked him to follow as he took the stairs two at a time.

Perplexed, Tony decided to do as the Boss asked, and was only a couple of steps behind when he caught up. Through it all, he avoided making any eye contact with Kate, though he doubted that if he had tried, she would have been looking at him. Tony had developed a sixth sense that allowed him to recognise when Kate was looking at him. And she had informed him many times that she had the same sixth sense for him.

Up in MTAC, where Gibbs had taken Tony, the place was oddly empty.

'We found out who was driving that car, DiNozzo.' Gibbs said suddenly. Tony nodded from where he stood next to him, both staring at the video from the parking lot playing. 'Did you know?'

'Not until he turned up at the church.' Tony stated bluntly, not even bothering to beat around the bush. Gibbs turned to look at him, prompting him to go on. 'He didn't say much. But he did know that the PO was murdered, not just killed like the press are reporting it to be.'

'He could have gotten that from anywhere.' Gibbs replied.

'Are you _defending_ him?' Tony turned to him, surprise and curiosity in his voice. When Gibbs didn't reply, Tony frowned. 'I don't care, you know? It doesn't bother me that he's involved with this case, and it's not going to affect my work, Boss.'

'If you say so. But you know that I have to take you out of the field while he's a suspect.' Gibbs informed him. It was true, Tony did know this. It was still, however, a disappointment to him.

'I don't _need_ to be taken out of the field. It's not going to affect my work.' Tony repeated more firmly.

'DiNozzo, you know the rules. And there aren't the ones that you can break and get away with.' They both knew that he was referring to his own rules, which the team seemed to break every day.

'Yes, Boss.' He mumbled before being dismissed and gladly leaving to head back down to his desk. Gibbs on the other hand went to see the Director.

--

'Where's Kate?' Tony asked as he saw her desk was empty, alongside Gibbs'. The other two were there, and now so was Tony.

'She went to see Abby.' McGee informed him in a weird tone. Tony picked up on it at once.

'Something else you wanna say, Probie?' he said threateningly.

'Uh…' McGee struggled. He wanted to ask Tony why Kate had seemed quite pissed off, but the look and the tone that he was giving him was enough to change his mind. 'No, it's fine.'

'Thought so.' Tony replied before sitting down heavily in his chair. For a couple of minutes, he just looked at the computer screen, not seeing anything that was there.

'McGee.' He finally called out when Agent Lopez left them to get some coffee.

'Yeah, Tony?' he asked, not looking away room his work.

'What's going on with Abby?' he asked him in hope of getting this cleared up.

'Uh… what do you mean?' McGee replied, stuttering a bit.

'She called at 4 this morning and told Kate that she needed to see her.' Tony explained briefly.

'Why would she do that for?' McGee enquired, his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

'That's why I'm asking you, McGeek! You're her boyfriend you know?' Tony retorted. 'Unless…' he added, trailing off to torment his fellow Agent.

'Unless, what?' a fearsome MIT graduate asked, letting Tony get the best of him.

'You two didn't break up, did you?' he asked. McGee's eyebrows now shot up in the quickest motion.

'NO!' he practically yelled, making Tony chuckle. He was feeling better already. 'At least, I don't think so…'

'You don't _think_ so?' Tony mocked. He was leaning back in his chair, feet on his desk to look at McGee sweat.

'Well… it would explain why she has been ignoring me for about a week. But I don't remember breaking up with her.' He admitted, before shaking his head. 'I can't believe I just told _you_ that.'

'Hey!' he exclaimed, before swinging his feet down and turning back to his computer when he heard Gibbs coming down.

'Where did they go?' Gibbs commanded when he saw the two empty desks on either side of his.

'Kate's with Abby and Maria went to get some coffee.' Tony answered. Glancing at the clock as he sat at his desk, Gibbs wasn't surprised to see that it had just passed 5 pm.

Several minuets later, both of the female agents returned to their desks. With the only suspect being PO McKenna's wife, Sophie, they couldn't do anything else that night. It would have been too suspicious to interrogate her then, and the same with her friend who would confirm her alibi. And Gibbs wasn't prepared to bring in Tony's father right then either. All in all, the only thing that could have been done could only be done during the day.

'Go home.' Gibbs told the four agents. 'There's nothing left to be done today.' It wasn't the entire truth either. As all four of them look at him dubiously, he knew that they also knew that there was much that they could do right then, well into the night. Such as background searches on friends and family of Lincoln McKenna.

'Are you sure, Boss?' Tony was the one to speak what they were all thinking.

'Yes! Now go before I change my mind.' He snapped at them all, prompting them to all get up and leave as soon as they could.

McGee had gone to the other elevator to go down to the lab, and Maria was still at her desk when Tony and Kate got onto the elevator. It was the first time that they had been alone since that little argument, not that it was that long ago.

'I'm sorry.' Tony finally apologized. Kate, who was going over the case file and the evidence that they had so far, didn't look up or give him a glance.

'No, you're not.' She replied without missing a beat. She also missed the look of hurt and confusion that passed over his face.

'What?' he asked, dumbfounded.

'You're not sorry.' She explained as the doors of the elevator opened and released them onto the ground floor. 'You _wanna _be sorry and make me believe it, so that I'll drop it, but you're not.'

'Kate-' Tony began, but she cut him off, finally shutting the file as they stepped out into the car park.

'It's ok, Tony. I understand. It's how you deal with things. Just push it away and not bother with it.' Kate shrugged to pretend as if it didn't bother her. But they both knew that it did.

'I'm not pushing you away.' He claimed as they stopped in front of her car.

'Ok.' Kate said in a tone that proved that she didn't believe him.

'You coming over to mine?' Tony asked her as she turned around and placed her things in her car.

'Uh…' Kate chewed on her bottom lip. 'I think I'll go home. I haven't spent much time there, so…' she trailed off, knowing that her excuse was really lame, considering that she had just been home the day before, although it had only been for an hour or so.

Tony looked straight as her, and she could see all of his mixed emotions in his eyes.

_Eyes can lie_ she remembered. But somehow, she knew that the guilt and the hurt in his eyes weren't a piece of fiction.

When he nodded reluctantly, leaning against his own car now to give them some space and him something to do, Kate felt the guilt come over her suddenly. He was hurting, _lost_ even, especially now that his father had just re-entered his life, and she was accusing _him_ of pushing _her_ away.

'You know what?' she said suddenly, making Tony look up from where he was dumping his bag in the trunk of the car.

'What?' he replied, leaning on his car once again, although this time, on the other side and looking at her over the car roof.

'I got bored of my place yesterday after about an hour.' She came up with as she watched him pull out his glasses, praying that he wouldn't wear them. She couldn't read him then. 'You wanna come over?'

Tony paused for a moments before replying. In that moment, Kate saw emotions flicker through his eyes, particularly happiness and, was it hope? He had then put his glasses on and pushed them up.

'Ok.' Was all he said before getting into his car.

Sure, he didn't want to be alone that night. Alone meant thinking, and that would just depress him. Especially when the thoughts in his head would all revolve around one thing. Or maybe Kate too. But driving home, or rather to Kate's, he was alone and he did get to think. Mainly about the thing that he didn't want to think about.

The drive took the usual 10 minutes for him, getting there before her, as was traditional. He slammed his car door shut and fiddled around with the keys on his key chain as he climbed up to her place. Opening the main door, and then shutting it, he made his way to the bedroom. He took out his gun and badge and placed them on the side table and then took his shoes off before lying down on his back, mentally groaning.

When Kate found him 5 minutes later, though she was surprised to see him in the bedroom, she had first thought that he was sleep. Soon enough, she realised that he wasn't.

'Hey.' She greeted him, placing her own gun and badge on her night table. He removed the arm he had on his eyes and looked at her, giving her a grin that wasn't so real. 'You falling asleep on me?'

'Can you blame me?' he murmured, the teasing tone in his voice forced. 'The little sleep that I got last night and all.'

'Hey! _I'm_ the one that's been up since 4 this morning.' Kate replied, their banter coming easily to her.

'So have I! And at least you know _why_.' He moaned, turning onto his side as she sat on the edge of the bed so that he could face her.

'Yeah, well… it's not that important now.' Kate informed him, mentally making a note to call Abby up and ask her if she had made any progress with it. She had been too wound up with Tony and his father that she had forgotten about that when she had gone to see the lab rat earlier on.

The silence between them made Tony's mood grow sombre. Even not being alone, he was still thinking about his father. Kate, seeing the smile slip off his face, ran a hand through his hair.

'I'm gonna have a shower.' She told him. 'You're more than welcome to join me.' Smirking, she invited him. But when he shook his head, Kate did her best to hide her disappointment and concern as she left him there and went into her en suite. Closing the door, she leant against it, finally allowing the let out her breath that she had been holding.

When she had stepped into the shower, she waited a couple of minutes just in case he changed his mind, though deep down she knew that he wouldn't. It was only then that she allowed herself to cry a bit. The water from the shower washed away the tears as quickly as they came, but she could still feel them stinging her eyes.

Kate didn't really know why she _was_ crying. All she knew was that it was because of Tony.

_Not because of him,_ she corrected herself, _for him._ And she knew that that much was true. It actually broke her heart that there was so much lost history between him and his father that he couldn't even start to explain it.

15 minutes later, Kate stepped out of the bathroom and saw that Tony hadn't really moved from his place. The only difference was that he was now on his back.

Discreetly, he watched her as she moved around her bedroom as she got re-dressed. He sat up slowly, edging himself to the end of the bed to watch her tie her hair up.

'What?' she asked him, amused, when she caught his eye in the mirror reflection.

'Nothing.' Tony replied. Not convinced, she turned around to face him, her arms crossed in a strict manner. 'Come here.' He said, pulling her by her arms towards him. Bringing her to stand in between his legs, he rested his hands on her hips.

'Hmm…?' Kate asked without any words.

'I was thinking…' he began, noticing how she still stood in the same position as before; her arms tightly crossed. 'That maybe we could go out tonight? You know, to celebrate.'

'Celebrate what?' Kate questioned, not able to stay quiet anymore. A small smile graced his features, and almost everything about that day was forgotten. Almost.

'Your first case since coming back. The engagement. Both. Either.' He told her, intriguing her even more so. However, though he hadn't realised it, Kate had remembered the scene before in the day where he had also said to his father "Both. Either.".

'I have a better idea.' she finally gave in, un-crossing her arms and letting them rest on his shoulders.

'Yeah?' he asked with a boyish grin. 'How much better?'

'_That_ is up to you to decide.' She replied, her voice dropping to a seductive tone as she leaned in close to him to kiss him. But just before they would have kissed, Kate pushed him backwards, giggling as he was caught out in surprise.

'Hey!' he moaned, looking up at her as she began to climb onto him, finally straddling his waist, still laughing.

'Are you…' Kate began, pulling away from him a bit so that he couldn't reach her. 'complaining?'

'I will be if you don't stay still!' Tony warned her as she kept on pulling away from his kisses.

'But where's the fun in that?' she pouted. Tony was finally fed up with her game, and decided to take care of it in his own way. Suddenly, he grabbed her hips and flipped them over, causing her to squeal. That made him laugh.

As soon as she was under him, she had started to struggle against him. But he was ultimately stronger, and they both knew that she wasn't trying with all he might. Because everyone knew that when Kate did something with all her might, then she wasn't to be beaten nor stopped.

Tony pinned her arms above her head with on hand and kept the other hand on her hip. Soon enough, they had both stopped laughing, and were just lying on the bed, looking at each other before their lips, at last, met.

--

At 8 o'clock, Tony reminded Kate that they hadn't had dinner that evening.

'Mmmm…' she moaned, stretching her body out as she laid on her back with her fiancé on her side, head propped up by his elbow. 'We can't have that now, can we?' she murmured to him. Tony shook his head, kissing her once more. 'What was that for?'

'You just looked too adorable.' He told her. Kate's eyebrow rose.

'Adorable?' she questioned. 'I looked _adorable_?'

'What's wrong with that?' Tony asked her, his hand working its way around the outline of her body.

'Puppies are _adorable_, Tony. _That's _what's wrong with that!' she huffed as he chuckled and pushed himself over her so that he could kiss her thoroughly.

'Fine.' He replied when he broke off the kiss. 'You look…' he dropped a couple of kisses on her collar, neck and jaw, 'hot, incredibly sexy and just plain gorgeous.'

'Now _that_ sounds better.' Kate whispered into his ear while wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down onto her for another kiss. Her cell phone began to chirp as they did so, but neither of them were ready to break away from each other.

'You should get that.' Tony mumbled in the seconds that he let her lips go for some oxygen. She made some noise deep in her throat that was probably an agreement, but it was too sexy to let her get away with it. So instead, Kate had to settle for flinging he arm out to find her cell while the majority of her mind, and body, was preoccupied with Tony.

Finally when she found it, Kate had to find a way of seeing who it was first. Bringing it up behind Tony's head so that she could look at it without missing his contact, she saw the caller ID to be none other than Abby. Flipping the phone open, she was in a dilemma as to _how_ she was gonna to speak if her mouth was already quite happily busy.

'Yeah?' Kate finally spoke into the phone when she got a breather from Tony. He had noticed the cell phone glued to her ear, and smiled wickedly as she leaned in once again, lingering just before her lips to see if she could handle it.

'Kate? I did it.' Abby's voice came through to her.

'Yeah?' she repeated, the words sinking into her with a 5 second delay. 'You _did_?' Kate replied finally.

'Yeah! Guess what?' Abby asked her.

'What?' Kate asked back, her voice slightly shaky though she prayed that her best friend wouldn't notice.

'What are you doing Kate?' Abby's curiosity got the best of her. The hard, laboured breathing and the delayed responses was making her think dirty.

'Uh…' she began as Tony attacked her neck with slow teasing kisses. 'Nothing.' She breathed out, eyes involuntarily shutting.

'Are you sure? Cos it doesn't sound like it…' Abby grilled.

'I'm sure…' she replied, pulling Tony up to stop making Abby anymore suspicious. The look in his eyes told her that she knew that he was doing to her.

'You're not with Tony, are you?' Abby's voice came out slowly, and they both understood the underlying meaning of that line. They both knew that she was with Tony, but what she was asking was whether she was _with _him with him, or not.

'Of course not…' Kate trailed off once again as Tony continued to lean over her and watch her. She lifted her free hand and let one finger trace down the side of his face, ending up on his lips where he captured it. A smile on Kate's face made him replace her finger with her lips, though it didn't last for long.

'I'm gonna grab a shower, 'k?' he whispered into her free ear, sending a shiver down her spine. She nodded without making a sound and watched him go while listening to Abby.

'Do you wanna know what it said?' Abby asked her impatiently. Kate's attention went straight back her.

'Yeah, course.' Her voice was no longer shaky nor distracted. But her breathing hadn't returned to normal. It usually took a while for that to happen.

'Well, as soon as I came home, I took another test. But I couldn't look at that one either.' Abby added sheepishly.

'Abs… you should've said something. I would've been there.' Kate told her.

'I know you would've, which is why I didn't say anything. You needed to be with Tony. Especially after today.' Abby confessed as Kate nodded, though she couldn't see. 'Anyways, I took another test about 15 minutes ago, and I left that too. But not for long.'

'What did you do, Abby?' Kate asked her, confused as to where this was going.

'I grabbed the other two tests and placed them out so I could see them all at once.' Abby explained.

'Oh, ok.' Kate said, not knowing what else she could say. Turning onto her side, she brought the covers up further as the coldness started to creep to her in the empty bed now. She could hear the shower on the other side of the door, wishing she could just jump in. 'What did they say?'

'Well…' Abby took a breath. She was looking at the tests at that moment, not sure whether she should thorn them away or not in the fear that McGee might find them. 'The ones I did this afternoon were negative.'

'And the first one?' Kate prompted, already knowing what the answer was going to be.

'It was positive.'

**Well, there's chapter 6!**

**Hope you guys enjoyed it!**

**Please R&R! They make my day!!!**

**Tiana xXx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey!**

**Sorry for the delay! Had college and stuff!**

**Hope you like this update! **

**Tiana xXx**

'What?' Kate replied after a few beats. She could hear the shower slowing down, and decided to move out of her room for some more time and privacy with Abby.

'Yeah, that's what I thought too.' Abby murmured back. She thought that Kate would have been the one to reassure her and settle the butterflies in her stomach.

'Ok. Well, there's a plausible reason for that.' Kate started, jumping out of bed and pulling on a pair of boxers and a shirt, both which belonged to Tony obviously.

'Which is…?' Abby prompted her.

'Yeah, um…' Kate tried to think of a reason that would convince her best friend. If there was one thing that she was good at, it was trying to find holes in explanations ad theories. 'Well, you took that test this morning, right?' she asked, moving out of her room now and into the living room.

'Yeah, when you were there.'

'Ok, so like I said before,' Kate threw herself down on her couch, pulling the teddy bear that sat there to herself, smiling as she always did when she sat with it. 'the chances of the pregnancy test being inaccurate increases with time, right?'

'So you say.' Abby told her.

'Yes, I do. So maybe the result of that test is false.' Kate reasoned.

'Yeah, but tests in the morning are supposed to be the most accurate too. And there is more likely to be a false negative than a false positive.' Abby argued back. Now Kate was stuck. She didn't know what else to say. It wasn't like she had had much experience with a pregnancy test. In all honesty, she had never taken one.

'Ok, that may be so…but…' Kate faltered with her counter-argument. 'You have two false tests too. You have to remember that.' An idea suddenly came to her. 'Didn't you say that you bought four?'

'Yeah, why?' Abby asked, her voice muffled as Kate looked over the back of the couch to make sure that Tony wasn't coming.

'Well, you have one left now, yeah?' when Abby confirmed it, Kate told her what to do. 'Ok, take that test tomorrow morning and see what it says. And before that, make an appointment with your doctor, Abs, please? Just to make sure?' she pleaded with the Goth.

'Kaaaate.' Abby complained. She didn't really like going to the doctors. Whenever she was ill, she would go and see Ducky. Fortunately for her, she was hardly ever ill. But this time she couldn't go to see the NCIS ME. Not without questions being raised.

'I know, Abs. But you need to do this. It's the only way you'll know for sure.'

'But if I go then McGee will figure out that something is wrong!' Abby all but pouted. Kate could tell, even over the phone.

'Abby. You know you have to tell him at sometime. Didn't he come to see you today when we left?'

'Yeah… He knows that something's up. I didn't tell him what though. Maybe I should spend some time with him…' Abby wondered out loud.

'I think that that would be a great idea.' Kate informed her, pulling the teddy closer to her for warmth. It was a great big, fluffy and soft teddy bear that she had gotten at the fair a couple of months back. Well, actually, Tony had won it for her, claiming that it was his pride at risk if she didn't let him. The day was one of the best ones she could remember. It had been Abby's idea, and the four of them had gone later that evening, staying until it closed. Seeing as Kate had a brace on her arm back then, she and Tony were restricted to the fair games, not like they were disappointed with that.

The next day, Tony had been called in early for work. Not wanting to wake her, he had placed the teddy by her side to replace him with a note pinned on it. Later that day, she had gotten bored and had decided to dress the teddy up. Thus, it became known as "Toni the Teddy", seeing as Kate had put on an old t-shirt of his on it, and the NCIS cap with a hole in it, which sat lop-sided on the head so that Kate could still bury her face in the soft, warm fur. Now, it even sported its own "gun", a miniature water pistol courtesy of Tony himself.

'Ok. Ok…' Abby's voice bought her back to reality one again. 'I'll call him. And then I'll spend some time with him tomorrow. I'm just _so_ tired today, with the lack of caffeine and all, not to mention that I hardly got any sleep last night with the worrying and-' Kate cut her off before she went on and talked herself out of calling McGee.

'You know what, Abby? That's a great idea. And so is sleeping.' Just the thought of it made Kate yawn. 'Yeah, sleep is good.' She murmured, causing Abby to laugh.

'Seems like I wasn't the only one who missed out on the sleep last night, huh Kate?' Abby added suggestively.

'Hey! You woke me up at 4!' Kate exclaimed as she heard the door to her bedroom open.

'Like you hadn't been up all night before that!'

'Well, that's something that you'll have to find out for yourself.' She said, laughing as Tony sat down behind her on the couch, pulling her into him, arms around her waist. He laid a sweet kiss at the base of her neck, making her breath hitch.

'Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess I'll leave the two of you alone then.' Abby replied. 'And don't think that I didn't that gasp you just let out. You can carry on celebrating while I call my geek.' Kate could hear the smirk in Abby's voice as she hung up.

'You're evil, you know that?' Kate snapped back at Tony as he carried on with his kisses.

'You know you like it.' Was all he had to say.

'What do you want for dinner?' Kate asked, changing the subject but still staying on safer grounds.

'I ordered some pizza while you were out here. Thought it was Abby and your 'secret' thing, so I didn't want to intrude.' Although she couldn't see him, Kate had the feeling that he was rolling his eyes.

'You can't sweet talk it out of me, you know DiNozzo. Just FYI.'

'"FYI"? Sound's like something that your sister would say.' Tony chuckled, earning an elbow to his ribs. 'Ow.' He gasped out.

'Serves you right! Comparing me to my sister…' Kate fumed, shaking her head.

'Yes, how _dare_ I.' Tony replied sarcastically. 'Speaking of your sister, have you told your family yet?' he added quickly to stop himself from getting anymore elbows.

'No. Haven't had time.' Kate murmured, settling herself back against him even more so than before.

'And then there's the fact that you don't want to tell them.' Tony read her mind, like he had done so many times before.

'It's not that I don't _wanna_, it's just that when I do, Mom's gonna give me a huge lecture about how I should quit my job and become a "proper wife" like Lizzie.' Kate stopped suddenly at the end of the sentence, and chewed her bottom lip. 'Maybe I shouldn't tell them.' She speculated out loud.

'You know that you couldn't do that.'

'Why not? It's not like I ever see them.' The idea was starting to grow on her.

'Because I'm sure that they would find out, one day down the line. Plus, I don't really need your family to hate me.' Tony mentioned. The two of them had gone to visit her family one weekend when they had the time off. It had been after she was injured, and Kate had tried everything to get out of it. In the end, though, they had gone, and it hadn't turned out that bad. Fortunately, the fact that she was dating her partner didn't seem to be that high on the list of worries for her parents, and even her siblings welcomed Tony without a second thought.

'They wouldn't hate you. They might _dislike_ you, but what's the worst that could happen?' Kate said sweetly. The idea was _really_ growing on her.

'I dunno, but it's not going to happen, Katie. I'm not going to be responsible for your family hating you.' Tony said firmly.

'Fine.' She huffed, crossing her arms and pulling the teddy closer to her. 'But you're going to be responsible for me hating my family!'

'You won't hate them.'

'Yes I will. First Mom will try to convince me to move back home, quitting my job on the way. Then my _sister,_' she spat the word as Tony rolled his eyes. 'will go crazy about the wedding stuff, and start to prepare it without my input. And _when_ Lizzie does do that, _you're_ the one who can deal with it.'

'You're overreacting…'

'No I'm not! And then there's my dad, who will probably hate you cos you didn't ask permission to marry me before you proposed. So, all that considered, it would be _so_ much better to just leave them out of it.' Kate concluded, letting out the huge breath that had consumed her rant.

'You'll regret it.' Tony simply replied. 'But!' he added when he knew that she would carry on, 'We'll talk about this later.'

'Ok.' Kate sighed. 'Later. Yeah, later's good.' she murmured as Tony started his torture on her once again, starting on her collar before making her turn around to get to her lips, pushing her down onto the couch as they got too carried away with their passion.

--

Next day, Tony wasn't really looking forward to the desk duty that he had to do. But, for a reason that made him even more so depressed, it would have been the highlight of his day, considering that his dad was going to be dragged into there later on.

However, locating the senior DiNozzo was the hardest part of his day. Admittingly, he wasn't putting 100 per cent in finding him, so it took longer than necessary. But the BOLO finally came through for them, and someone had spotted the car parked in some top-class hotel down town.

'McGee, you're with me. Lopez, Kate, go and see Sophia and tell her about the tattoo and see what she says.' Gibbs demanded as soon as Tony had received the phone call.

'I'll just stay here then…' Tony said to no-one in particular, though they all heard him.

'You can carry on with your background search on PO McKenna's family.' Gibbs snapped, walking towards the elevator with McGee in tow, missing Tony's pout and sad face.

'Aw. Poor Tony. Gotta do some _real_ work for once.' Kate mocked him, smoothing his head down before he sharply pushed himself away from her.

'Leave me alone.' He scowled at her as she left laughing with Agent Lopez, who wasn't finding any of it funny.

--

Gibbs got the two of them at the hotel in a matter of minutes, jumping out of the car before McGee could get his head and stomach functioning once again.

'McGee!' Gibbs yelled as he realised that he was half way to the entrance of the hotel, but the Probie wasn't behind him.

'Coming, Boss!' he shouted back, almost running to catch up with him.

Upon entering the lush hotel, Gibbs flashed his badge at reception to inform them quickly and quietly that he was there for business.

'You seen this car?' he showed the man behind the counter a picture of the black Lexus.

'Um… sure?' he replied, his voice quivering at the ex-Marine's fierceness.

'It's a yes or no question… Zack.' Gibbs snapped, peering in closer to look at the man's nametag. Just as he was about to reply, the manager came out to see what the fuss was about.

'Hello. I'm Jacob Middleton, manger of this hotel. Can I help you?' he asked politely.

'Special Agent Gibbs, McGee, NCIS. We got a call that you've seen this car.' Gibbs stated.

'Yes, of course. How about we go into my office for some privacy and I'll get someone to usher down the owner of that car for you?' Mr. Middleton suggested, opening the counter to let the two agents through.

It took a total of 15 minutes for before the door opened once again. Both McGee and Gibbs had requested information on the visitor's stay, and the manager had happily given it to them.

Once the bellboy left the room, the four men in the room all looked at each other; Gibbs mainly at the new addition of the clan. He was tall and slim, perfectly dressed too. However, there was nothing there that reminded him of Tony. Apart from the eyes, Gibbs finally decided. The eyes were almost identical.

'What is this? Why was I dragged out of my room?' Lucio DiNozzo demanded to know almost immediately.

'We would like for you to accompany us for some questioning. You can come with us now, or be forced in a matter of minutes.' Gibbs laid out the options to the man pretty bluntly, not liking him at all. Although Tony was able to joke about it, Gibbs knew that there was past there that wouldn't be forgiven by the younger man.

'Accompany you? To where exactly?'

'NCIS. And before you ask, I think you know why.' The snarl that Gibbs gave him even scared McGee though he wasn't being spoken to.

'Alright. But I'm telling you now; you have nothing to hold me on.' Lucio replied confidently.

'We'll see about that.' Gibbs smirked, making the other man feel slightly less masculine than he had just moments before.

--

'Of course I've seen the tattoo.' Sophie McKenna blushed as she answered Kate's question. She sat in the living room with the widow while Agent Lopez searched the house stealthily. Kate was personally glad. Maria Lopez did not like her.

'Sorry. I didn't mean you make you uncomfortable.' Although probing for information, Kate was also using her profiling skills on her. Somehow, the lady that her and Tony had seen yesterday was now gone, and Sophie was the perfect grieving widow.

'I understand. I'll help as much as I can, although I don't see the relevance in this.' Sophie admitted.

'Do you know when your husband got the tattoo done?' Kate ignored the previous statement for now.

'Um…' looking to her right, she recalled the memory, her brow furrowed. 'About 3 years ago now. When we first got married. He said it was a present for me. Can you believe that?' she laughed in disbelief. Kate tried her best to hide her smile.

'And when was the last time that you… _saw_ that tattoo?' Kate probed. Now Sophie laughed mirthlessly, although she didn't take it personally.

'A couple of weeks or so before he left. We… uh…' she paused for a second before wording her sentence her way. 'we had a bit of an argument before the left.'

'Alright. I think that's all for now.' Kate rounded it up as she saw Lopez return back to the main room.

'Ok. Just one question. Why did you ask about the tattoo specifically?' Sophie asked. Kate looked at Maria in a way to pretend that they weren't allowed to let that information out.

'Our ME found that the tattoo had been in the process of being removed.' She said gently. When Sophie nodded, Kate bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying something irrelevant.

'I see.'

'Thank you for the information, Ms. McKenna. If there's anything else that you want, you know that you can contact us.' Kate said politely as they were shown to the door.

'It's ok, and thank you. Anything to help catch who did this.'

--

It had just past 4 pm when Kate and Lopez made their way to their desks. The first thing that Kate noticed was that Tony was gone from his. The second thing that she noticed was that McGee was there, but Gibbs wasn't. Being the educated woman that she is, Kate was able to make several assumptions as to where Tony was.

'Where's Gibbs?' Kate called out, mainly aimed at McGee a couple of minutes after she sat at her desk.

'Interrogation.'

'And Tony?'

'Last time I saw him, he was in the lab. "Helping" Abby.' McGee's voice was dripping with sarcasm, and Kate guessed that she hadn't told McGee about the pregnancy scare yet. Getting up, she left the bullpen, throwing a random excuse to see Abby.

When the doors swished open, Kate knew almost immediately that Tony was no longer there. There was no way that he could have a conversation with Abby with that amount of rock music.

'Hey! Don't touch my-' Abby yelled as Kate stopped the CD player. 'Oh, hey Kate.' She adjusted her comment to when she saw her best friend.

'Hey. What you up to?'

'Just going over the evidence from yesterday. Sup?' Abby knew that there was a reason to why Kate was there other than the case.

'Did you take the test this morning?' Kate asked her. Abby nodded slowly, pulling her into the office like place at the back of the lab. 'Well?'

'It was negative.' Abby sighed. Kate eyed her carefully. The profiler in her kicked in, and it was clear to her to see that the lab rat might actually be upset with the fact that she wasn't pregnant.

'Are you ok with that?' Kate questioned as Abby shrugged.

'Sure, why not? It's not like I was prepared for it or anything. I didn't even tell McGee.'

'Abs…' Kate started off, concerned.

'I know, I should've told him, but I really couldn't. What if it was positive? What if he couldn't handle it? I just thought that I'd be certain before I made any decisions. I mean, why worry him when there might have been nothing to worry about in the first place, huh?' Abby explained.

'Because you shouldn't have to go through it by yourself.' Kate softly told her.

'But I wasn't by myself, was I?' Abby smiled at her best friend.

'You know I'm always here for you. Have you made an appointment with the doctor?'

'Yeah, last night. I was surprised the clinic was open that late.' Abby laughed as Kate smiled. 'I was going to call Tim, but I just couldn't. But!' Abby said before Kate could say anything as she opened her mouth. 'I saw him this morning and I told him that we'd get together tonight. My appointment's at 6, and he'll be over at 7.'

'That's great Abby!' Kate was genuinely happy for her.

'Thanks, Katie.' Abby replied gleefully, not missing the glare that she threw her as the Goth passed her to go back into the main part of the lab.

'Where_ is_ Tony, anyways?' Kate finally asked.

'He left a while ago to go back upstairs. Wasn't he there?' Abby queried, her eyebrows knitting together as she sipped on her Caf-Pow! At Kate's pointed look, Abby explained. 'Tony bought it for me. And I couldn't refuse it, you know? Seeing as you are being the bestest mate in the whole world and not telling anyone!'

'Yeah, I'm sure.' Kate's voice portrayed that she was distracted. It didn't take a genius to figure that that it was the fact that it was because Tony wasn't down there, and obviously not up in the bullpen. 'Ok, well I should go before Gibbs starts to yell at me for wasting time. If I don't see you before I leave, let me know how it goes tonight, ok?'

'Sure thing, Katie!' At her rolling eyes, Abby laughed and sipped her Caf Pow! once again.

--

Tony stood in the observation room for the interrogation room that Gibbs and his father were in. Knowing that he wouldn't have been allowed to be there, Tony had snuck in only after he knew that Gibbs had began the questioning. But he also knew that Gibbs would have figured out that he was back there.

As he stood, arms crossed, watching the scene before him, Tony decided that it didn't matter to him what involvement the man that was supposedly his father had in this case. Although he insisted all along that it didn't bother him, finally seeing him in the room ahead confirmed it all.

--

'Where were you two nights ago between the hours of 8 and 11 in the evening?' Gibbs started slowly.

'At my hotel at 8. Went out at 9 and got back at 10.30. Although you know that Agent Gibbs. So why don't we just cut to the chase? I am a man of little time.' The suspect commanded. Not one to take orders from others, it came a surprise that Gibbs actually couldn't wait to get rid of this man.

'Alright. Why were you outside St. Joseph's church at 9.30 to 10.30pm two nights ago?' Gibbs said coldly.

'I wanted to go to church. Is that a crime nowadays?' his voice was dripping with sarcasm that just made Gibbs angrier.

'Not really. But when you don't enter the church, it doesn't really support your claim. Do you want to try again?' Gibbs snapped.

'I said "I wanted", not that I did. Anyway, the murder occurred inside the church, did it not? And seeing as you have no proof of me entering that building, there is no way that I was there. Therefore, you have no reason to hold me.' Lucio DiNozzo almost recited his words.

'Actually, if I wanted to, I'm sure that I could get my agents to find _something_ to hold you on.' Gibbs smirked.

'Then I'll just get my lawyers. I'm sure they'd be happy when they find out that any claim made against me might just be personal.' Gibbs stood up at his words, the smirk still playing on his lips.

'I'm sure they would.' As Lucio made to get up, Gibbs shook his head. 'You don't have anything to hold me on. I'm leaving.'

'Not until you give us a full description of _everything_ that you remember from that night.' Gibbs ordered, sliding a pen and a piece of paper over to him.

'What's the point of this?' he demanded to know, but Gibbs merely shrugged one shoulder.

'Stay in town and keep your cell on. We'll be in touch if we need you. Which, no doubt, will probably be soon.' Gibbs slammed the door shut behind him to let the fuming man yell after him that if he dared to do so, his lawyers would be handling the calls.

--

Kate had slipped into the observation room midway through the interrogation. Tony had been too sucked into it to even notice that she had joined him. Now, she got up from her position perched on the table and walked up to him.

'Hey.' She greeted softly, placing a hand on his back. Tony jumped slightly, tensing under her hand too.

'I didn't hear you come in.' he replied, not bothering to face her.

'I snuck in.' she admitted.

'How did you know I was here?'

'I knew.' Tony finally turned to face her, a smile creeping onto his face.

'How much do you wanna bet that Gibbs know I'm here?' he joked.

'I dunno… if we get back to the bullpen before he does, he might never know…' Kate said lightly making Tony laugh.

'You wanna bet?'

'I dunno… do I?' Kate narrowed her eyes at him, pulling him away from the viewing window.

'I'll give you _really_ good odds.' He gloated.

'Yeah, but what do we bet? I mean everything that I could _imagine_ that you would want…' Kate dropped her voice and leaned in closer to him. 'You've probably got or had it.'

'I'm sure I could think of _something_ new…'

Kate was now exiting the room, shaking her head and refusing to reply until they were in the safety of the elevator.

'Bet's on.' She confirmed as he pulled her into a kiss as soon as the doors slid shut.

'We have to seal the deal.' Tony informed her as they broke apart.

'I think that was enough to seal it, Tony.'

'I dunno… it didn't seem like enough.' He said suggestively.

'Trust me. We'll "seal the deal" later. That is if I lose. If I don't…' Kate trailed off as the elevator stopped.

'If you don't…' Tony prompted.

'You'll have to wait and see, DiNozzo.' She smiled too sweetly that convinced him that it wasn't something that he would like, which was quite mean, considering if _he_ won, then what he would make her do would be enjoyed by both of them.

As soon as they turned the corner to get approach their desks, both pair of eyes went to Gibbs' desk to see what kind of night they were in for.

**Sorry that it's a long one… but it explains why it took so long to get it up I think**

**Please R&R! I would love to know what you think about this FF so far!**

**Tiana xXx**


	8. Chapter 8

**New Chapter!**

**Just a memo to say thanks to all of you who reviewed. I cherish each and every one of them!**

**Nehoos- read on!**

**Tiana xXx**

11:15. Those were the numbers that Kate saw when she let herself open her eyes to succumb to the ringing of the cell phone. It took less than 10 seconds to see that it wasn't hers, seeing that the light from it was coming from behind her. Turning, she prodded the sleeping Agent there to wake up.

'It's yours!' she hissed to Tony, whose only response was to moan and turn his body away from her attack. Sighing, Kate reached over and grabbed the cell, ignoring the ache of her right arm that usually occurred now when she slept on it.

'DiNozzo's phone.' Kate answered, not bothering with the caller ID. Seeing as it was so late, the only people that would call would be NCIS.

'Hi.' A preppy voice came through to her and she lay back down. 'Where's Tony?'

'He's busy.' Kate was sure that this person was _not_ from NCIS. Pulling the cell away from her, she looked at the screen to see the ID. Unfortunately, it only thing that came up was "01-21-06".

'Oh. Well, are you, like, his secretary?'

_Oh, my, God!_ Was the first thing to run through Kate's head. _Is she for _real_? Man, I'd bet anything that she's a blonde._ Kate was in shock for a moment. Maybe it was because it was so late, or because she had just answered her boyfriend's, _fiancé's,_ cell, only to hear some bimbo calling for him. _It's like something out of one of those trashy movies._

'Uh… no, I'm not.'

'Then why are you answering Tony's phone?' the girl sounded truly puzzled, and Kate just wished she could see this girl.

'Take a guess.' She said coldly. Kate realised that Tony had started to stir now, turning onto his back once again, but she doubted he knew what was going on.

'Can you pass on a message?' Blondie asked after a long pause, in which Kate contemplated that she might have came up with the realistic scenario.

'No.'

'Well, _that's_ rude!' she huffed. Kate rolled her eyes.

'I'm not a secretary, and you aren't gonna call this number again.' Kate snapped before hanging up.

'Who was it?' Tony mumbled as Kate stared at his cell in disbelief, not replying. Instead, she went through his phonebook. It had never occurred to her to ever do it before. But now that she did, Kate saw that there were very few names in there, and the only ones that were named, she knew the people. The others were dates.

'Why is your phonebook filled with dates?'

'Why are you looking through my phonebook?' Tony propped himself up on his elbow, now fully awake.

'I asked first.' Kate had now moved on to the text messages.

'Cos it's easier to remember who the girl is date-wise than name-wise. Why are you looking through my phonebook?' Tony repeated, his hand gliding up and down her bare stomach to get her to answer him.

'Why is it easier date-wise?' Kate gave up on the messages, glad to see that there were none sent nor received from any of the nameless contacts, not that she didn't trust him.

'Because the girls are gonna mention their names in the conversation, and if not, I can charm myself through anything.' That explanation earned him a slap to the chest. 'Also, with dates, I know if I were meant to call them back or not.'

'Why don't I have a date?' Kate pouted teasingly.

'Cos _you_ are worth way more than a date in my phonebook.' Tony smiled his million-dollar smile, leaning over for a kiss that she gave in to.

'That's good answer, DiNozzo.'

'Told you I can charm myself through anything.' This earned him a kick to his shins, though it was hard for Kate to do. 'Who was on the phone anyways?'

'"01-21-06"' Kate replied. 'Ring any bells?'

'Uh… not really.' Tony said, honestly. 'What was her name?'

'I dunno! This is your ingenious method of remembering. So… remember!' she demanded.

'Kate! That was almost 18 months ago. Before us. I don't think about any girls that came before you.'

'Charm's not working, DiNozzo.'

'That wasn't charm. That was the truth.'

'It _better_ have been!' she hissed, pulling him down for another kiss. Once the parted, she smiled up at him before turning onto her side to place the cell next to hers and snuggling down in her bed. 'What about the girls that came after me?'

'What?' Tony pulled her body right into his.

'You said that you don't remember any girl before me. What about after?' she cleared up, pulling on his hand to place under her head.

'There are none after you.' He whispered gently into her ear, placing a sweet kiss under it afterwards.

'Good.' She yawned as Tony watched her.

'Good.'

'Tony?' Kate whispered into the darkness a moment later.

'Yeah?' he was still watching her. He knew that sleep wasn't going to come to him easily right then.

'Tomorrow,' she began. 'You're deleting all of those contacts.'

'Ok.' He smiled. She nodded slightly to show that she was holding him to it.

'No.' Kate said once again after a moment's silence. 'Tomorrow, you're gonna get a new number.'

'Ok.' Tony repeated. He wasn't one to deny her wishes.

'Tomorrow?'

'Tomorrow.'

--

Kate pushed herself up in her bed, pillows resting behind her back so she was ever-so comfortable. The sheets were pulled up to her chin as the cold end of summer temperature made her room colder than she would like, especially seeing as she had nothing on.

The clock on her right told her that it was just past 1 a.m. and the empty space on her left told her that the noise coming from the hallway was Tony. Slowly, the room lit up as the door opened and light shone in from outside.

'Hey.' Tony greeted, startled that she was awake.

'Hey.' She yawned, a hand coming up to push her hair away from her face. 'Why are you up?'

'Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.' He replied, ignoring her question in a sense.

'No worries.' Kate watched as he made his way over to her dressing table. She reached over and switched her bedside lamp on, lighting up the room now. She saw him take off his watch, and she finally took in what he was wearing. Considering that they had gotten home at 10 that night, and then, as Tony had won the bet, done other activities that didn't really require clothing, Kate frowned.

'What?' he asked when Tony finally gave in to her eyes that followed him.

'Where did you go?'

'I couldn't sleep.' Kate sighed, knowing that he was ignoring her question.

'I asked you that earlier. Now I'm asking you where you were.' She stated bluntly.

'Out.'

'At 1 in the morning?'

'Actually, it was 12:15 when I left.' Tony pointed out, still not facing her as he busied himself with other random useless things.

'You didn't think about letting me know?' Kate asked in disbelief.

'I didn't want to wake you.' He faced her now to show that he was for real.

'So you thought that you would just leave me?' she pouted slightly, not knowing herself why she was being so playful as to angry.

'Hey! At least I came back!' he defended himself, holding his hands up in a surrendering position.

'Hmm…' she trailed off, letting her eyes wander around her own room, before they fell upon a little device next to her. 'You didn't take you cell phone?'

'I thought that I might wake you up if I tried to get it.' He lied through his teeth. Truth was, he didn't want to be found when he was on his drive. It was his private thinking time.

'You should've taken mine then, Tony! What if I had woken up before you got back?'

'But you didn't.' he felt obliged to point out.

'That's not the point, and you know that.'

'Yeah, I know! The point is that you think that I would do something stupid!' he snapped, his control on his temper starting to slip.

'No, the point is that I love you! And you going out in the middle of the night without _any_ way of contacting you doesn't help!'

'I came back, didn't I?' Tony scowled. Kate glared at him for a second before running a hand through her hair once again.

'Tony, I know that with this case, and your father coming back is… ya know… kinda annoying to say the least-'

'This has nothing to do with him.' He stated dryly.

'Then what is it?'

'It's nothing.'

'No, it's something. The Tony I know wouldn't leave me in the middle of the night without a note or any way of getting in touch.' Kate informed him in a very persuasive tone. She hoped that she had finally gotten through to him and that he would admit that his father's appearance was having an effect on him.

'I need a shower.' He pushed himself off of the dresser that he had been leaning on. 'Go back to sleep, Katie.' Kate watched as he passed her without another look at her. Banging her head backwards, the pillows soften the gentle knocking at the base of her skull before she shifted to pull some clothes on.

It took a total of 20 minutes for Tony to shower, get changed and then climb into bed behind her. Kate was sure that he knew that she was pretending to be asleep, but after their little fight, he wasn't going to call her bluff.

--

When Gibbs saw the two of them enter the office separately, with just a polite greeting exchanged at first sight, he knew that something was wrong. Even McGee and Lopez noticed it.

From the list that Lucio DiNozzo had given them, Gibbs had divvied up the information between the 4 agents to check out. So far, everything had come up as a dead end. However, most of the information that he had chosen to share was rather vague and Gibbs was sure that he knew more details then he was choosing to share. And the only way to get it would be to ask him for it. But without proof, Gibbs would have no grounds for a warrant to demand his interrogation. Which left only one option.

'Kate. C'mon.' he called as he got up from his desk. Kate did as he said, grabbing her gun and badge before following him to the elevator, confusion written on everyone's face.

'He knows something and not telling us.' Tony stated once they were gone.

'It's Gibbs, Tony. What do you expect?' McGee retorted.

'Yeah, Tony. _You're_ the one who taught me that!' Agent Lopez joined in. for her effort, she got a dirty look from Tony before he returned to work, by which for him was playing another game.

--

'Where're we going?' Kate asked as she climbed into the passenger's seat, making sure that her belt was fastened tightly.

'To see a suspect.' Gibbs growled, starting the car quickly. Speeding off, Kate thanked God that she wasn't motion sick. Or pregnant come to think it. That led her to think about Abby and how she had IMed her the night before while at work to find out that the doctor's had told her to come back the next day for the results.

'Who's that?' Kate returned back to reality. When Gibbs didn't reply, she was able to figure out that he meant Tony's father. It explained why he didn't tell any one of them where they were going before they left, she figured out in her head.

The drive took 20minutes, seeing as it was just before lunch and Gibbs could drive almost as fast as the speed of light. Pulling up in the car park of the very prestigious hotel, Kate felt a chill going through her, but she was stubborn enough to push it away.

'Uh… I'll just go get the manager.' The receptionist, which was once again Zack, told Gibbs as soon as he saw him, no words needed.

'Agent Gibbs. How can we help you today?' Jacob Middleton shone his smile towards them that made Kate realise just how much practice he had with this.

_You'd think he'd get federal agents in here everyday!_ She scoffed to herself.

'This is Agent Todd. We were wondering if we could talk to Mr. DiNozzo once again.' Gibbs told him. The tall Caucasian man nodded, not letting the smile slip at all.

'Of course. Why don't you come around back here and we'll see what we can do?' ushering them behind the counter, Kate and Gibbs followed him into the office that Gibbs and McGee had been in the day before.

Jacob picked up the phone on his desk and dialled a number that was very familiar to him. It went to the staff room in the hotel where all of the bellboys were when they were not working. The phone was answered on the fourth ring, and Jacob mentioned his request to the person who picked up.

Three people made small talk as the two Agents waited for their suspect. Not wanting to give much away, they were avoiding any question that that Jacob might bring up about the case.

'Ah, here they are.' He went to the main door that connected to his secretary's office.

'What's this about?' Lucio DiNozzo spat out almost immediately.

'We wanted to talk to you about yesterday.' Gibbs told him. They stared at each other hardily before Lucio broke it to look at the manager. It was a dirty look that didn't go amiss by Kate.

'I'll just leave to give you some privacy.' Jacob announced clearly, clearing his throat to let himself out.

'I hope you have a warrant for this.' Lucio sneered as he sat on one side and Gibbs on the other. Kate chose to remain standing off in one corner behind her boss.

'Remember that list that you gave us yesterday?' Gibbs chose to ignore him.

'Of course.'

'You care to expand on it?'

'Not really.' He shrugged carelessly, something that went against his prim and proper attire.

'Not the answer I was looking for.' Gibbs pushed a piece of paper and a pen towards him. 'Now write.'

'What if I refuse? You don't have a warrant do you?'

'I was hoping that I wouldn't need one.' Gibbs hinted heavily. It only got him a glare which lasted for a while before Lucio picked up the pen without losing eye contact. Silently, he started to write something onto the paper.

'That's all I know.' He stated, pushing the paper back with the pen, only one line written on it. As Gibbs looked at the paper, Lucio's gaze wandered over to the other Agent in the room. There was something familiar about her. He knew that she was the agent with his son that day, but there was something else there.

Kate wasn't focusing that much on the job as she was on _other_ things, mainly Tony. But when she sub-consciously noticed someone's eyes on her, she snapped back to reality once again. Intuition was something that puzzled almost everyone, but knowing when someone was looking at you gave the oddest sense of invasion to Kate. Especially when that someone had the exact same eyes as the man you loved.

Finally, Lucio realised something about her that had struck him. It was the way that she held herself, just like his first wife. The epiphany gave made him question the relationship between her and his son.

'Anything else, Agent Gibbs, or can I go now?' he asked, deciding not to dwell too much on Kate.

'If this doesn't check out, I'll have a warrant for your arrest.' Gibbs snarled.

'On what grounds?' he demanded to know.

'Like I said yesterday; I'll find something.' Gibbs got up, tucking the piece of paper into his pocket. Kate joined him and they both walked out of there, leaving him in the manager's office.

As they left, Lucio watched them both calmly. The glint of reflection just under the collar bone on Kate's front caught his eye, and he was fairly sure that the cross was one that he had seen, and bought, before. Years before.

--

'Did you pick anything up?' Gibbs asked as they climbed into the car.

'Not really. He seems pretty closed. Good at hiding things. Perfect for a murderer. No paranoia, no guilty conscience.' Kate explained.

'Could be.'

'What did he write?' instead of replying, Gibbs showed her the piece of paper. Frowning, Kate turned the paper over see if that was it. 'How much use is this going to be?'

'There was no red Jeep in the parking lot when we got there, Kate.' Gibbs informed her.

'So someone took the victim's car?'

'Maybe.'

'Or maybe he came with someone else. Maybe they were in on it.' Kate realised the logic behind Gibbs' allowance of such little information.

'Good work. Now let's get rid of the maybes.'

--

The surveillance tapes showed no red Jeep. Abby figured that there must have been a blind spot between the cameras, where they got lucky and parked. But Gibbs was reluctant to believe that it was "luck".

Letting them go at 8 that night, Kate had volunteered to go with Abby to the doctor's to get her results. The clinic was open 24 hours, and Abby was glad that she wouldn't have to wait any longer.

The waiting room was blank and hardly anyone was there, but it was still 25 minutes before her doctor had called her in. Insisting that she needed Kate, she trudged into the room with her best friend.

'Abby, I've got your results right here. We can do this anyway you want.' He said, looking over at Kate for a second before at her. Abby got his hint.

'It's ok. She can stay.'

'Ok. Well the tests show that you are most defiantly not pregnant.' Abby sat in shock for a moment. She was certain that it was going to be a positive.

'But what about the symptoms?'

'They could be for a number of reasons. Stress in particular, but sometimes these things just happen. You did the right thing coming to see me though.'

'Thank you doctor.' Abby said sincerely before they left his office.

'You ok?' Kate asked when they approached their cars. Since they had gone to work separately, they thought that it would be better to take them both just in case.

'Yeah. You know what? I am!' Abby exclaimed, smiling quite brightly that Kate thought may have been forced.

'You sure?'

'Of course! Now I know the truth and it feels good. I mean, I dunno how we could have handled a baby.'

'You would have been fine. I know it.'

'Well, we can wait to find out. Though I think it would be you first!' Abby teased as Kate rolled her eyes.

'I highly doubt it. But I'm not going to tempt fate.' Kate teased back, winking as Abby gasped.

'Getting engaged has changed you, Kate!' Kate laughed out loud as she watched Abby shake her head. 'Anyways, you want to come over to mines?'

'Uh… actually, I might call Tim over to mines. You know, to spend some time with him.'

'And to tell him.'

'I'll think about it.' Kate shot her a stern glare. 'Alright, I'll tell him! Geez!'

'Good!' they said their byes and left in their own cars, Kate heading one way at the next lights while Abby went the other way.

Seeing as Kate had told Tony very coolly that evening that she was going to go with Abby for a night out, she was surprised to see his car parked outside her apartment. She moved quite slow, taking time to reach her door. The day had caught up with her, and personally, she was glad that Tony was there so she could just be with him and forget everything else.

However, when she opened the main door, the sound that carried to her was of Tony's voice. Sure that he was alone, she could only assume that he was on the phone.

As she neared, Kate could now make out the words. His tone was quite fierce and the words weren't really pleasant. Standing next to her window, he hadn't seen her enter the room.

'Just don't call me again. Don't even come and see me. If you do, I'll get a restricting order on you. And if that doesn't work, God help me, I'll shoot you.' Tony snarled into his phone. Kate stood wide eyed. She knew that he meant every word that he had just said, and it scared her how much she believe that he would go to such an extent. It was obvious to her who he was talking to too.

Tony had snapped the cell shut in the moment that Kate had taken to think. He was still fuming. The thought of his father following him was piss taking as it was, but now he had his number. Tony's anger boiled and he had the urge to hit something, some_one_.

'Tony…' Kate finally spoke. He turned around to see her. His face was set in anger. 'Who was that?' she said.

'Who do you think?'

'Hey, calm down. I think he got your message.' Kate said soothingly. Tony shook his head, opening his mouth to say something else when the phone buzzed in his hand. Glancing at the caller ID, the same number from before shone back at him.

With fury still burning through him, Tony couldn't understand why he was still ringing him.

_Did he not get the message?_ He thought. Not picking up, his father had left a voicemail on his cell. Going against his best knowledge, he listened to the new message.

'Anthony. I don't know why you won't talk to me. But I suggest you do. I will talk you one way or another, and I will get you to listen. You have to understand, this is important. If not, then I will ask Agent Todd to pass on a message. I know what she means to you, Anthony. I sa-'

Tony didn't wait for the rest of the message. Instead he pulled the cell away and threw it across the room, where it hit the wall with full force.

Kate stood in shock once again. She had never seen him be so violent at home. It was a new side of him that she had never known, and she was sure that she didn't really like.

'There. Now you don't have to worry about me getting a new number.' He said as he walked past her completely frozen form.

**Ok – hope you like hat. Tried to mix the TATE with the case.**

**Please R&R!**

**Tiana xXx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey!**

**I am SO sorry for the delay… Computer crashed and work got in the way! Not to mention that dreaded writer's block! **

**I promise the next chapter won't take months!**

**Hope you enjoy this!**

**Please R&R!**

**Tiana xXx**

As he brushed past her, Kate couldn't get her mind to work nor for her body to co-operate with what she wanted to do. That was until she heard Tony open the front door.

'Where are you going?' Kate finally found her voice just as he opened the door enough to step out. He paused.

'Out.'

'Where?' Tony simply shrugged. He hadn't thought it through, obviously. This wasn't the way that he had intended on spending his night. He wanted to talk to Kate and sort everything that was going wrong between them. 'Tony!'

'What?' he snapped back at her, finally turning to face her as she dared to come nearer to him.

'You're not going to leave when we both know that you are more than pissed off.' Kate told him. Tony continued to look at her, not bothering to disagree. 'Look, what are you gonna do? Go out, drive around, find something, or _someone_, to beat the crap outta before coming back. So if you wanna break something, I'd rather you do it here, where I know where you are and I know that you are ok.' Kate finished on a gentle note, shutting her front door silently and standing there in between him and it.

Tony didn't bother to look at her, instead choosing to keep his face off to the side. Kate contemplated what to do. She had never been in this position before. Tony had never been this angry, and whenever he had been, she had always known the cause of it. Granted, that a couple of times, _she_ was the cause of it.

Letting out a deep sigh, Tony gave her a tight nod before backing off and heading towards her kitchen. She didn't let herself completely relax until he was out of her sight totally and could hear him bashing around in the other room, probably for a beer.

Leaning against the door, Kate let out her breath, looking upwards, mulling over what to do. What she wanted was to sink to the floor and just forget about everything. Maybe she could quit her job and go to Hawaii, taking Tony with her?

_Like Gibbs would let us_ she argued with herself. Shaking her head in disgust that she would ever consider taking the easy way out, Kate went to her room, deciding that it would be best to leave Tony and wait until he came to her.

--

It was past 11 pm when Kate had fallen asleep. That, however, didn't last long. Her subconscious pulled her out of her dream-less sleep when she felt someone sitting on her bed. Blinking a couple of time, instinct told her that it was Tony, but she had to see for herself.

Rolling onto her back, Kate noticed that the only light that was coming into the room was from her right, where the moonlight shone through her balcony doors. She hadn't bothered to draw the curtains, and neither had Tony.

Now, Kate saw, Tony was dressed in his usual sleeping attire, when he wore some that was. He was clad in sweatpants and a t-shirt and Kate smiled secretly to herself. She had always loved what he wore to bed. It made him look even better than normal, though it was a rare occasion when he actually wore them and _she_ wouldn't wake up with the t-shirt on.

When Tony didn't give any indication that he had sensed her movement, Kate opened her mouth, but nothing would come out. She didn't know whether it was because she wouldn't know what to say or whether it was the lack of sleep, and being woken up suddenly, that did it to her. Instead, she settled for resting a hand on his upper arm.

The sudden contact of skin, slightly warm skin, on his own bare skin made Tony tense up. But he let it pass quickly, allowing Kate to gently rub his arm.

'Hey…' she finally spoke. Tony turned to look at her, arms moving to support him as he leaned back a bit. He then turned his head to look up heavenwards, head falling back with his eyes closed.

'I'm sorry.' He whispered so quietly that Kate was sure she wouldn't have heard it if she hadn't been concentrating so hard on him. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she had to retract her hand.

'Don't be.' Kate responded earnestly.

'I have to be.'

'You didn't do anything wrong.' _To me at least_ she added in her head. She wasn't sure whether voicing those words would help or not, so she decided against it.

'I saw.' Tony could feel Kate's eyes on him, and the confusion that she was emitting via them. 'Every time you get scared or upset or something that you think will make you look weak, you put up a shield. But before you do, I manage to see. And before? I saw that you were scared, and I'm sorry for that.'

'I wasn't scared.' Now Tony faced her, a disbelieving look on his face. 'I wasn't scared of you.' she amended her sentence as he looked away once again. Silence fell upon them for a brief while when neither knew what to say. 'Will you come to bed?'

'Yeah.' He sighed defeatedly. Getting up, Tony turned to see Kate fall onto her back, her left arm lying across where he would sleep. She held this hand out to him when she noticed him looking at her. Tossing the top sheets over so that he could climb in, Tony felt Kate's arm slip around his neck, resting lightly on his shoulders. As he lay down, Tony buried his face in the crook of her neck, her arm still around his shoulders with her hand stroking his hair gently.

Several silent moments passed, neither one of them breathing deeply in fear to lose this connection once again. When Kate thought that she was finally going to fall asleep, Tony spoke up.

'I love you. You know that right?'

'You know I do.' She whispered back, confusion seeping into her voice.

'And that I would never intentionally hurt you.' Tony sighed and Kate knew that there was something else that was playing on his mind. Not knowing whether to respond or not, she continued to just stroke his hair, nodding to give her confirmation.

Tony shifted slightly so that Kate could no longer see his face. She knew what he was doing; she was a profiler after all.

His fingers gently skimmed her stomach, making their way under her top. It was such a tender touch that it made her heart ache. She closed her eyes to just enjoy the feeling. When he stopped, she sighed in desperation of his touch again. Tony's hand moved down her arm now, working its way around her wrist to finally capture her fingers, intertwining them eventually.

Sighing deeply, Tony turned to lie on his back, bringing Kate's right hand to rest on her own stomach. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes for a moment before turning herself to face him. Sliding her arm out from under him, she propped herself up to look at him.

'When I was 12, my mom was diagnosed with a liver disease. She drank. A lot. For as long as I can remember, she had been drinking. It got worse a couple of years later. She wouldn't give it up, you see. Life was easier for her that way.' Tony shook his head as he frowned. Kate stayed quiet, just placing a hand on his chest for support.

'Just before I turned 15, she was hospitalised. She needed a transplant but she was low on the list. Dad wouldn't pay for private, and mom wouldn't give the drink up. At first she put a brave face on. Pretended it would all be ok. 2 days after my birthday she went into a coma. The doctors had predicted it. Chances of her waking were slim and the toxins due to her liver failure were killing her anyways.'

Kate could tell that this was probably the first time that he had told this to someone. A part of her was glad she was the first, but the other part wished that he had talked to someone about it earlier rather than to have kept it all bottled up.

'She was one the life support machine for a week before my dad decided it was time to let her go. Didn't even ask me. It was _all_ his decision, he said. I remember that day so clearly. He just told me. Like it was nothing.' Tony took a deep breath and a small smirk appeared on his face. 'When he went to the hospital, I ransacked my mom's room. Took everything that I could that I thought he wouldn't notice was gone. Needless to say, after that day, he always locked the door.'

'Do you still have it all?' Kate finally spoke up. Tony nodded.

'I've kept it safe. I'll show it to you one day. I promise. It's just…' Tony trailed off.

'I know. I understand.' Kate paused. 'Now I know why you and your dad don't get along.'

'Kate, I hate him.' He clarified. "Don't get along" was too mild for them.

'I'm sure you don't hate him, Tony. He's still your-'

'No'. Tony interrupted sharply. 'Trust me.'

'Hate's a strong word, Tony.' Kate sighed. She watched as his eyes jumped from the ceiling to hers and then back to the ceiling.

'It's not strong enough.' He murmured. When he could feel Kate's eyes on him, burning a hole into his temple, he looked at her. 'I'm sorry Kate, but not all kids love their parents. My dad drove my mom to her death. It was because of him that she drank so much. In my eyes, that's on him. He killed my mom in more than one way. And for that, I _hate_ him.' Tony explained.

Kate opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. She had never been in his position before so she couldn't say anything. Instead, she settled herself down on his chest, pulling the covers up to coerce them into sleep.

'I'm sorry.' Kate whispered. Tony didn't reply. He just turned his head towards her and placed his lips against her forehead. She closed her eyes at the action before he moved to rest his chin on her head. It was almost 2 in the morning when she fell asleep after thinking the story over many times.

--

When she got up the next morning, Kate wasn't that surprised to see that she was alone. Stepping straight into the shower, she took her time to get ready for the day, knowing that it was going to be a long one.

Tony was in the kitchen making breakfast. He had been doing so for the past hour. Technically, he had been standing in the kitchen for the past hour, only cooking for the last 15 minutes. He had been thinking about last night. It wasn't a pleasant thing to think about first thing in the morning.

As she passed through her living room, Kate noticed that the pieces of Tony's cell phone had gone. Not knowing whether he had picked them up last night or this morning, it gave more support to Kate's thoughts.

Entering the kitchen, she saw that Tony was just making some coffee and toast. The smile on his face wasn't as natural as she would like it to be when he turned to face her. It was then that her thoughts were confirmed. He was going to just ignore last night and act as if it didn't happen. Sighing gently, she smiled too, accepting the kiss he gave her as well as her coffee.

'You're gonna need a new cell phone.' Kate reminded him. She sat in one of the stools by the central breakfast bar, facing him to gauge his reaction.

'Eh… I'll just take one of the ones out of the filing drawer. It's not like Gibbs keeps tabs on the amount of cells in there. I don't think he knows about the collection, to be honest.' Tony smirked before taking another sip of his orange juice.

'Well, you're going to have to tell Gibbs about your father calling too.' Kate saw Tony stiffen a bit as he was forced to remember last night. He nodded slightly, but then carried on like nothing had happened. Sighing, Kate let it go for the time being.

--

'No hits for the red Jeep yet, Boss.' Tony informed Gibbs when he asked for an update. After going through the surveillance cameras several times that morning and coming up with not one single sighting of the car, Gibbs had sent them all back up to the bullpen to get onto some other way to locate the Jeep.

'Keep trying, DiNozzo.' He growled in response.

'What if he was lying, Boss?' McGee speculated. The other three, Kate, Tony and Lopez, all turned to look at him and then at Gibbs.

'What?' he snapped.

'I'm just saying… that… maybe… there was no red Jeep. There's no proof of it. Just what another suspect says.' McGee stuttered out.

'I wouldn't usually say this, but Probie's right.' Tony agreed. Gibbs threw him a glare.

'If there's no red Jeep then why mention it?'

'To throw off suspicion?' Lopez supplied.

'there's hardly any evidence to say it was him. The car was gone, _he_ was gone, in the time frame for then PO McKenna died.' Kate replied.

'To look like he's cooperating?' McGee asked.

'By giving false evidence? Not a smart move.' Gibbs retorted. Tony felt as if he could add on to that, but he knew that it would just earn him another glare from his boss.

'Ok, so there was a red Jeep. But there are hundreds of red Jeeps in the tristate area.' Kate informed them.

'But how many of them know where to park in the church parking lot so that they're completely obscured from the cameras?' Tony countered.

'This person is a frequent visitor.' McGee said.

'Or like locally. There's nothing to say that they just scoped the area out so that they knew exactly where to park.' Lopez added.

'But they must have known McKenna was going to go on that night. And when the Priest left the confessional box so they could slip in.' Tony mentioned. Gibbs gave him a look that said "Well done" but without the words.

He continued to sit at his desk, sipping his coffee as the team fell quiet, no having anything else to say.

'Who?' he barked out while throwing his empty cup into the trash can.

'Someone who knew that the Petty Officer visited the church after returning home from every deployment, who know the church well, blended in with the others, and took the time to find out schedules.'

'Who would have had that much time on their hands?' Lopez asked unbelievably. The team were once again in silence before the pieces clicked and realization hit two of them.

'The wife.' Tony and Kate both said at the same time.

**Ok, once again I am sorry for the wait. I hope you guys enjoyed this.**

**I just hope that I can watch more NCIS now that my exams are almost over.**

**Please R&R!**

**Tiana XOXO**


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